gynecide

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English

Etymology

Irregular formation from Ancient Greek γυνή (gunḗ, woman) + -cide. Compare gynocide and gynecocide.

Noun

gynecide (uncountable)

  1. The killing of females, especially female infants.
    • 1987, Christine Overall, Ethics and Human Reproduction, Allen & Unwin, published 1989, page 31:
      The technology of sex preselection enables people, particularly men, to act on their biases against women; it is not an exaggeration to regard the potential results as a form of gynecide – that is, a wrongful form of sexual discrimination that reduces the relative number of females.
    • 1997, Amy Richlin, “Pliny's Brassiere”, in Roman Sexualities, Princeton, published 1997, page 212:
      So though there is nothing here to indicate any widespread gynecide, there does seem to be an assumption that women will be trying to have male children.
    • 2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 509:
      The pressure to reduce these practices will almost certainly increase, if only because governments have finally done the demographic arithmetic and realized that gynecide today means unruly bachelors tomorrow […].

See also