Little Men and Little Women

Today's post on Motherlode really bothers me. The guest blogger writes at length about how she wanted daughters and got sons. I'm going to quote at length:

My future daughter had a lot of Anne of Green Gables and Ramona Quimby to look
forward to, as well as French braids and tutus and Mary Janes and apron dresses.
She was going to watch “Felicity” marathons with me and ogle the new J. Crew
catalog and have annual viewings of “It’s a Wonderful Life” with me under a
blanket with hot chocolate and lots of whipped cream. She was going to be, I
thought, my best friend. You know, until she reached her teenage years and all.
But that would take a loooong time, and then she would come back to me and we
could plan a wedding together and I could watch her fall in love and have babies
of her own.
My worst nightmare, back then, was that I would end up being a
Mom of Boys, one of those women with a “practical” haircut and flat shoes who
spent her afternoons at the baseball field and washed a lot of sweaty athletic
clothes. A Mom of Boys bought a lot of boring clothes for her children — polo
shirts and khaki shorts and Nike trainers. She was looked on with pity by the
Moms of Girls, who color-coordinated with their daughters and took them on trips
to the American Girl store and “The Nutcracker” and who had princess birthdays
and tea parties with their mommy friends.

My goodness, anti-feminism and latent homophobia all in one post. I think this woman wanted Barbie Dolls and not daughters. It's a distorted gender politics which decrees that the sex of your children dictates your own personal identity and, apparently, happiness; what a burden to lay at the feet of children.

Of course, I have one of each and am glad, but not because I wanted a Barbie and a George Bailey. With no other men in our immediate family, I wanted to have a son and Sis to have a brother. And not having grown up with brothers myself nor having many male friends, I felt more comfortable thinking about raising a daughter and relating to issues girls and women face in our society. But in the end, I didn't much care what sex they were. I just wanted two so they could have each other.