Virginia Abernethy facts for kids

Virginia Deane Abernethy, born on October 4, 1934, is an American anthropologist. An anthropologist is a scientist who studies human societies and cultures. She is a retired professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She has written about how populations grow and how people move between countries.

In 2012, she ran for Vice President of the United States. She was the running mate for Merlin Miller, representing the American Freedom Party. This party has views that focus on the idea of white nationalism.

Early Life and Education

Virginia Deane Abernethy was born in 1934 in Cuba. Her parents were American. She grew up in Argentina and New York City. She went to the Riverdale Country School in New York.

She earned her first degree from Wellesley College. Later, she received a business degree from Vanderbilt University. In 1970, she earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Career and Views

Virginia Abernethy worked as a researcher and teacher at Harvard Medical School in the early 1970s. She later moved to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She worked in the Department of Psychiatry there from 1975 to 1999.

She became an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 1976 and then to Professor in 1980. She retired in 1999 but still has an office at the university as a Professor Emerita. This means she is a retired professor who keeps her title. She is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Views on Immigration

Virginia Abernethy has strong opinions against immigration. She believes that people moving into the United States can cause problems. She thinks it might make jobs less valuable and use up important resources. She has also claimed that immigration from certain countries could lead to more diseases in the U.S.

She has asked for a complete stop to immigration into the United States. When people have called her views racist, she has said that she is an "ethnic separatist" instead. This means she believes different ethnic groups prefer to live separately.

In 2011, she joined the board of directors for the American Third Position party. This party is now called the American Freedom Party. She was later chosen as their candidate for Vice President. In the 2012 United States presidential election, she and Merlin Miller received about 12,900 votes.

Fertility and Opportunity

Virginia Abernethy's research often looks at how population size and culture are connected. She has a well-known idea called the "fertility-opportunity hypothesis." This idea suggests that birth rates go up when people feel they have more economic opportunities.

She believes that giving food aid to developing countries might actually lead to more people being born. Instead, she has supported giving small loans, called microloans, to women. She thinks these loans can help families improve their lives without causing higher birth rates.

She has also argued against programs that aim to boost economic growth in less developed countries. She believes that such efforts can sometimes lead to more population growth. In an article, she wrote that "efforts to alleviate poverty often spur population growth." She thinks that too much optimism about resources can make people less careful about using them.

Other Roles and Writings

From 1989 to 1999, Virginia Abernethy was the editor of an academic journal called Population and Environment. She also helped with The Citizen Informer, a newsletter from the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC). This group has views that some consider controversial. She has spoken at meetings for the CofCC.

She was also on the advisory board for The Occidental Quarterly, a journal that focuses on white nationalist ideas. She is on the board of directors for the Carrying Capacity Network. This group works to reduce immigration and promote sustainability. She also serves on the board of Population-Environment BALANCE. This group supports stopping immigration to help balance population size with available resources and the environment.

Virginia Abernethy has written or edited several books. These include Population Politics: The Choices that Shape our Future (1993) and Population Pressure and Cultural Adjustment (1979). She has also written articles for magazines like Chronicles and The Atlantic Monthly. She has contributed to the website VDARE.

In 2012, the Anti-Defamation League described Virginia Abernethy as a "white supremacist." The Southern Poverty Law Center called her a "full-fledged professor of hate." She has said that she is not a "white supremacist" but prefers to be called an "ethnic separatist."

Involvement in Arizona

Virginia Abernethy was involved in a campaign in Arizona called Proposition 200. She was the head of the National Advisory Board for the Protect Arizona Now (PAN) committee. This committee supported Proposition 200 in the 2004 election.

Proposition 200 was a law that passed in Arizona. It limited how undocumented immigrants could get government benefits. It also required people to show proof of citizenship to register to vote. During the campaign, she explained her views by saying, "Groups tend to self-segregate. I know that I'm not a supremacist. I know that ethnic groups are more comfortable with their own kind."

See also

In Spanish: Virginia Abernethy para niños