Hopkins graduate Mara Hvistendahl—author of the new book Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men—recently made a stop in the metro area as part of her book tour.
Hvistendahl’s book discusses the large gap in births between males and females in China due to sex-selective abortion. It has received widespread publicity, garnering reviews from the New York Times and The Guardian.
Hopkins Patch caught up with Hvistendahl on Sunday during a book signing at the Ridgehaven Mall .
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Hopkins Patch: When did you graduate from Hopkins?
Mara Hvistendahl: I graduated in 1998.
Find out what's happening in Hopkinswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Hopkins Patch: Where do you live now?
Hvistendahl: I’m currently based in Beijing.
Hopkins Patch: When you started studying Chinese at Hopkins you were one of four people learning the language. Now Hopkins has a Chinese immersion school. What do you think this says about the relationship between China and the United States and about Hopkins?
Hvistendahl: I think it’s great. When we learn each other's languages, it helps us understand each other better, and that’s a good thing.
Hopkins Patch: What got you interested in the subject of selective abortions?
Hvistendahl: The gender imbalance is a big issue in China. It’s something that crops up in media reports from time to time, and I didn’t feel like it was very well explained. I didn’t feel like western news reports do a great job of explaining what’s going on.
Hopkins Patch: Do you think that anything you learned in your research for the book could translate into lessons in the United States?
Hvistendahl: In the book, I talk about how sex selection happens in the U.S. during in vitro fertilization and so many Americans tell clinic directors that they actually want girls. So in some ways I think it’s not so different than what’s going on in Asia. I think around the world we have more and more access to information about our future children and that brings about this whole host of new questions and so that’s something that’s common to both the US and China and the rest of Asia.
Hopkins Patch: One last question, do you have any favorite Hopkins memories?
Hvistendahl: Hopkins High School was great; I took a lot of great classes there.
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About Mara Hvistendahl
High school: Hopkins Class of 1998
College: Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania
Current home: Beijing, China
Other works: Wrote for Popular Science and Scientific American and was a correspondent for Science magazine
