As I was perusing Facebook tonight, a friend of mine revealed that she is having her third boy, which is so wonderful! A healthy baby, no matter the sex, is cause for joy. While reading through the comments though, one of her friends (a woman) said ‘oh congrats! Boys are the best- girls are just expensive hobbies’.
Holy. Hell. I know this was probably meant as a joke, but it has real bite and shows that we still have a long way to go. These are the kind of people I hope are never in a position of influence over my daughter because even in a joking manner, they are saying that girls are frivolous extravagances that could never amount to something as wonderful as a boy could. I think of biases within college admissions, people in the position of hiring and I just see red. I often plan in my head conversations I’ll have to have with Savannah about the workplace, how she’ll have to work twice as hard and probably be labeled an unflattering name when she works hard . I hate that I will have to teach her to brush comments like this off. Comments like this enrage me, especially from a woman.
Girls are NOT just expensive hobbies. Think before you belittle, whether that’s sex, race, orientation, part of the country, etc.