ABSTRACT
Sociobiology contributes to understanding male and female roles in large animal species as well as the distinction between mating and procreation. The corollary is that males often compete for access to the relatively scarce females. Sociobiologists call the competition to mate 'reproductive effort'. Prostitution takes women out of reproductive contexts and, on the scale seen in Asia, will inevitably depress fertility rates and slow population growth. Humanitarian aid to developing countries often has the explicit goal of improving the life chances and well-being of women and children. Women's and children's lives are cheapened; exploitation in work or sex is common. Health care and sometime food for women and girl children are skimped. Differential mortality rates for girls and boys suggest discrimination against girls. Feminism was invented (think, Simone de Beauvoir) in France prior to being widely adopted in the United States. Had rapid population growth not combined with the 1960s frantic geographic mobility.
