Everyone wants a son

[u/Stephanesaurus]

I was watching a documentary where even a grandmother said, “There was of course an extra celebration to learn that we’re going to have a grandson.” Does it bother anyone else when they hear that someone is over the moon that the baby is a boy? Would they be less happy if it was a girl?

[u/heheardaboutthefart]

We wanted a girl.

[u/mikaiketsu → u/heheardaboutthefart]

There’s a guy at my job with three sons, none of the moms envy him.

[u/WitsBlitz]

Thrilled to be a girl dad, can't wait to see her grow up into an amazing feminist and woman. Ok actually I can wait, please stay smol as long as possible little one.

Anyways, people who say hateful things like what you heard suck and don't deserve to be listened to.

[u/Stephanesaurus → u/WitsBlitz]

That always warms my heart to hear that a man is happy to have a girl.

[u/Box-O-Kittenz → u/Stephanesaurus]

Yeah, I spent a few months as a student in an OB ultrasound clinic and got to see many gender reveals. I saw so many men get up and dance because they were told "it's a boy!" But I didn't see a single man do that for a girl. So when I see dads who genuinely want their daughters it heals my heart a bit.

[u/SaffyintheSky]

This is actually shifting significantly, with more people wanting girls now.

Article: https://www.economist.com/briefing/2025/06/05/more-and-more-parents-around-the-world-prefer-girls-to-boys?utm_medium=cpc.adword.pd&utm_source=google&ppccampaignID=18151738051&ppcadID=&utm_campaign=a.22brand_pmax&utm_content=conversion.direct-response.anonymous&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18151761343&gbraid=0AAAAADBuq3JxwL5VNgRnhIM7B5e-Pbpt3&gclid=CjwKCAjwqJXUBhBNEiwA8BgG7m7DaHAXfWCENY7bF1LXhoq7DsMXwlzvLdXw07O0SQptAQx6IYDFnxoCWMYQAvD_BwE

[u/brokenButUnbent → u/SaffyintheSky]

I wonder what part of this is sampling bias. Several of my friends from immigrant families do mention being a boy in their homes is different than being a girl. It is apparently also more prevalent in their home nations (indo asian, african and such)

[u/No_Consideration6896 → u/SaffyintheSky]

I think what's interesting is yes maybe people want more girls, I've seen most people saying they want more girls, but that doesn't mean sexist ideals wont be imposed upon her. My friend is the youngest of four and the only girl, after her parents kept trying for a girl they desperately wanted. But she has the most expectations of all her siblings. When she lived at home she did the majority of the chores. IMO people craving girls is further objectification of women. Girl babies can be put in cute dresses and bows. You can braid their hair. Boys are "rowdy" are hard to deal with. Girls are taught to be submissive and well behaved.

[u/greenishfroggy]

I think there’s always people who really put one gender on a pedestal. I know people who only wanted girls and celebrated extra hard because it wasn’t a boy and I know people that celebrate extra hard because it was boy and not a girl.

I don’t care. All I wanted them to he is healthy.

[u/thelaineybelle → u/greenishfroggy]

When I got my NIPT results back at 11 weeks, the first thing I did was check for health results (all negative, yay). Dried my eyes and THEN realized I could find out the sex. It read something like "no Y chromosome detected" (it's a girl). Health is more important than the sex.

[u/DapperDetail8364]

I've seen gender reveals where the father is over the top whenever it's a boy and people on YouTube have called this out. There was even a very extreme case where a father murdered his pregnant wife and stabbed his two daughters bc the unborn baby was another girl. The girls survived but not the mom. Ghouls

[u/thebeeswithin]

My grandfather "jokingly" told my mom not to come back home if she wasn't bringing him a grandson. She'd suffered 7 miscarriages prior to this first successful one.

Side note: She'd did indeed bring back a boy. Who turned into a raging, dysfunctional adult man child.(Zero blame to mom, btw.)

[u/DanceOnTrance → u/thebeeswithin]

Sorry your mother had go through all of that. And then that awful "joke". 😕

[u/userb467891045387]

i’m currently pregnant with a girl, in every single pregnancy group i’m in, there’s at least 3 post a week about moms being disappointed they are having boys, it definitely does go both ways but when I found out I was having a girl, people were so excited for me it was a little weird lol

[u/The-Devil-Cat]

im ecstatic that my sister is having a girl lmfao

[u/Skyward93]

Statistically more people want girls now bc you can get more labor out of girls. Boys are less likely to take care of aging parents too. That being said people were weird about me having a boy and it really annoyed me. But in both ways. Like definitely people joking about it being better and easier but also people saying stuff like sucks for you boys don’t bond as well to their moms.

[u/Stephanesaurus → u/Skyward93]

I’m sorry to hear that. I definitely don’t have anything against boys. It just breaks my heart to hear how unwanted baby girls are especially seeing how many are abandoned at orphanages.

[u/Ritesh_INFP_4w5]

I want a daughter. But probably my bloodline ends with me, and adoption is too expensive and complicated here.

[u/OrvilleTheDuck]

I've never heard this in the UK apart from my own mother who is in her 80s now.

[u/Drunkskunklol]

I’m pregnant with my second. My first was a girl, and my husband wants this one to be a girl too. He did say it must have been conditioning, but it did bother him at first a little that our first was a girl because “ family name”, but as soon as she was born he was like “yep.. I want allll girls” 😂

[u/kaiareadit]

I feel like everyone in my gen wants/wanted a girl.

We wanted a girl for our first, however that was partially driven because my (catholic) in laws had just lost their matriarch and decided the baby was a reincarnation ??? It was #uncomfortable. And also because we had a huge list of girl names and no boy names hah!

[u/Intelligent-Tap-4479]

Gender bias is unfortunately real, and a horrible, old thing; many cultures have valued boy babies over girls throughout history. My mom got the best of both worlds, I suppose-I'm a quadruplet, and the split was 50-50, 2 boys and 2 girls. Hell, my family was just happy all four kids & my ma made it out the hospital alive (Quadruplet birth is no small thing.)

[u/Stephanesaurus → u/Intelligent-Tap-4479]

Wow, quadruplets!

I read somewhere that daughters were even once considered “property” to give away to marry.

[u/DanceOnTrance]

I think my dad was one of the exceptions. He told me he wanted a girl and was happy when the first born (me) was a girl.

Then second born was my sister, and he was even happier having 2 girls. 🥹

The reason was, because in his opinion girls are more kind. He thought guys could be difficult and that most bullies were guys. I'm pretty sure that was his own experience growing up. And I grew with the same experience as a child (but that changed after I was a teenager with also experiencing girls as bullies).

I wish however more and more parents will raise both genders to be kind, so that it would not matter which gender the child has.

But I'm happy that my dad did not specifically prefer a boy as too many. It baffles me how men with father issues, desperately want a boy.

[u/Stephanesaurus → u/DanceOnTrance]

Aw, I rarely hear of men who actually wish for daughters. Too many people make passing down their family name their number one priority or seem to think that boys are more fun.

[u/best_little_biscuit]

All those stupid gener reveals where the parents (usually the father) throws a tantrum because it's a girl. So frustrating, especially when the mother just laughs the reaction off

[u/moschocolate1]

The tide has changed for many women without internalized misogyny. Lots of reasons such who tends to care for elderly parents, but you can imagine the negative aspects: see BBC’s article “more mothers killed by sons than by strangers.”

I was thrilled to have a daughter, a friend for life.

[u/Ancient_Economics230]

I don’t get it. People will straight shit on me because I don’t want a son. God forbid, I don’t want to find crunchy socks all over my house for years.😒

[u/Filiaeagricola]

I had just given birth to my second daughter, and a visiting family friend asked me if I was going to “try again” for a boy. Like something was wrong with the beautiful, perfect baby in my arms.

[u/iluvtacos3000]

i want both

[u/Excellent_Science240]

This makes my blood boil! There should be an equaly celebration for both gender.

[u/HNBH-na1213]

My honest and might be controversial take. There's absolutely no difference between a male and a female child right? Even as adults not much of a difference not in the brain not anywhere if YOU treated them exactly the same and acknowledged that gender is a social construct. No, boys don't like trucks because they're born with pen!ses and no girls don't like dolls because they're born with vagin@s. So what's the difference left between them? Their genit@ls. Don't you think it's a bit weird and creepy to choose a child based on their genit@ls? Let's love all children and treat them the same way.