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From: dennisg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Dennis E. Griesser)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: Re: How do you get a boy?
Message-ID: <1914@sdcrdcf.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 19-Apr-85 20:51:11 EST
Article-I.D.: sdcrdcf.1914
Posted: Fri Apr 19 20:51:11 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 22-Apr-85 00:01:14 EST
References: <1660SGL@PSUVM> <1880@sdcrdcf.UUCP> <70@cadtec.UUCP> <2361@mit-hermes.ARPA>
Reply-To: dennisg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Dennis E. Griesser)
Organization: System Development Corp. R+D, Santa Monica
Lines: 23

According to McCary's text, the ratio of male babies to female DID rise in the
years after world wars I AND II.

McCary passes along the explaination of Ashley Montagu (1964):
  During wartime, people marry at a younger age.  The young mothers, being
  strong and healthy, provide fertilized ova -- the greater number of which,
  as said before, are male -- a good chance for implantation and survival.
  So they tend to give birth to a higher percentage of males.  Furthermore,
  since these young mothers are seperated from their husbands, the enforced
  spacing between births is longer than usual, leaving the woman in a strong-
  er physical condition to carry the next pregnancy to term and thereby
  increasing the likelihood of a male.

My own idea about the reasoning hinges on another theory that states that the
parent under greater stress at the time of conception will tend to shift the
odds in favor of reproducing his or her sex.  [I remember mention of this theory
in my Human Sexuality class, but can't come up with a reference.  It's based on
pysiological manifestations of stress, coupled with the conception environments
that favor various genders.]  In any event, quite a few men are stressed during
a war, so those men favor conceiving males!

As to which theory is "right", or which factor carries the most weight, take
your pick.