The culture of the bias towards having a male baby in the Bahrain society

Hussien Mohamed Hussien (Bahrian)

We do not know exactly when the human being started the preference of the male baby. What is known is that as an outcome of this preference the ancient man thought about the formation of the embryo, being a male or a female, with concentration on the former. This thinking was the starting point for the creation of myths which explain the formation of the male. The human being applied these myths to invent methods to give birth only to males. Since the dawn of history, different nations adopted specific techniques for these goals. Such techniques were continuously improved and are applied up to now. The human being all through this time applied strange method for the formation of only the males. Some of these methods have to do with the diet while others concentrate on the sexual intercourse and the orgasm of the female. Some historical Egyptian and Chinese scripts, dated back to more than 4000 years, afforded a good literature about the topic. These scripts give information about the way to anticipate the sex of the embryo. The Greek philosophers, such as Hippocrates, Aristotle and Jallenius had informed us about the beliefs related to the way the male baby is formed. The most prevalent methods were based on the idea that the right testicle is responsible for giving birth to the male baby and the left for the female baby. Such an idea was widely accepted among the Greeks since the fourth century B.C. Depending on the idea, the Greeks developed several methods, and the most brutal method adopted was the amputation of the left testicle. This method continued more than 2000 years and was common among the French bourgeois up to the eighteenth century A.D. The traditional culture in Bahrain invented several methods which allow the possibility of giving birth to a male baby. Such methods, however, are not exclusive for the Bahrain culture but adopted by other nations as well. These methods could be divided into two major sections. The first section includes methods similar to those adopted by the Greeks. The second section includes a method based on studying the genealogy of the wife to-be. Such a method is almost identical with modern facts of the science of genetics. So many people adopted the idea according to the modern scientific facts that man is responsible for defining the sex of the embryo. Such an idea is correct as far as there is no genetic factors played a role in the matter. The modern studies proved that genetic factors in either the man or the woman play a role in defining the sex of the embryo. Possibly the women could interfere in defining the sex of the embryo. However, the man idea that the woman is responsible for giving birth to a female baby is sound. Moreover, the presence of women giving birth to the female baby in a society which is biased to the male baby, generates several social problems. These problems inevitably affect the traditional culture. This research shows how the culture of the bias affects the marital relation and the destiny of the female. Not only that but the overall society is remarkably affected in different ways. For instance the thinking and the beliefs of this society are ready to create applications for giving birth to male babies.