Coital rates, sex‐selective infanticide, and sex ratios at birth: A reply to James

Abstract

In response to Jamess remarks concerning their article on sex ratios in Micronesia the authors reply that there is no evidence that sex-selective infanticide was ever practiced by the native populations of Butaritari and Guam. There is ample historical and ethnographic evidence to the contrary in the Mariana Islands and Butaritari. Historical accounts begin in 1602 with the comments of Fray Juan Pobre de Zamora who observed the exceptional affection shown toward children by the Chamorros (native Mariana Islanders). In the Gilbert Islands based on interviews with John Kirby and Robert Wood who were long-time European residents the Wilkes expedition reported that children were never killed at birth. Ambilineal descent with female inheritance and land holding in Butaritari and the influential role of women in the matrilineal Mariana Islands would argue against sex-selective infanticide. Finally the authors reiterate that secondary sex ratios (SSRs) are not a priori evidence of high coital rates with age or marital duration and SSR variation across societies is not wholly explained by coital rates. In two Micronesian populations SSRs are demographic corollaries of high population rates of coitus.