The common wisdom, as research verifies, is that most men want sons. That\u2019s starting to shift. Some men, like me, fear becoming fathers to sons.<\/p>\n
At the website for the NPR radio show \u201cOn Being,\u201d\u009d the writer Courtney E. Martin observes of many younger middle- and upper-middle-class fathers-to-be, \u201cI\u2019ve noticed a fascinating trend: They seem to disproportionately desire having a girl instead of a boy.\u201d\u009d An informal Facebook survey she took yielded these results: \u201cI wanted a girl mainly because I felt it was harder to be a boy in today\u2019s society. If I have a boy I will embrace the challenge of raising a boy\u201d\u00a6who can learn the power of vulnerability even as male culture tries to make him see it as weakness. But, frankly, I hope that when I have a second child, it\u2019ll be another girl.\u2019\u201d\u009d This was emblematic of a lot of the responses, which revealed that men felt more confident, or \u201cbetter equipped,\u201d\u009d co-parenting \u201ca strong, confident daughter.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Ms. Martin says that her own husband was relieved to have daughters instead of sons. He says: \u201c\u201d\u02dcI haven\u2019t felt like I fit into a lot of the social norms around masculinity\u201d\u00a6. I\u2019m much more interested in the challenge of helping a girl or young woman transcend sexist conditions. It feels more possible and more important, in some ways.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n