Korean Women Catching Chromosomes

The following account can be seen as funny if we remember that it is 1970s South Korea that we are talking about, and plain sobering if there are still people in modern societies who believe in it.

In a narrative by Hesung Chun Koh in "Korean Women, Conflict, and Change: An Approach to Development Planning", it has been noted that in the past, Korean of both sexes often attribute the failure to bear a son primarily to the wife.

In a society where there are deeply entrenched beliefs that the women are to be blamed for any "reproductive" failures, biological facts concerning reproduction and conception often carry little weight.

Koh wrote: "When reminded that men, not women, provide the "Y" chromosomes, a young Korean husband responded, "yes, but it is the woman's job to catch the right one."

Good grief.