The War On Men: Embryo Edition

The idea of a “war on women” is now a liberal cliche. But a recent article in Slate describes a much less publicized “war on men” by American women engaging in sex-selection of embryos.

From the article, “Women Are Paying Huge Sums To Have a Daughter Rather Than a Son”:

The conventional wisdom has always been this: Given a choice, couples would prefer sons. That has certainly been the case in places like China and India, where couples have used pregnancy screening to abort female fetuses. But in the United States, a different kind of sex selection is taking place: Mothers like Simpson are using expensive reproductive procedures so they can select girls…

For Jennifer Merrill Thompson, the reasons were simple. “I’m not into sports. I’m not into violent games. I’m not into a lot of things boys represent and boys do,” she said. Thompson is the author of Chasing the Gender Dream, a self-published book that documents her use of gender-selection technology to conceive her daughter.

Interviews with several women from the forums at in-gender.com and genderdreaming.com yielded the same stories: a yearning for female bonding. Relationships with their own mothers that defined what kind of mother they wanted to be to a daughter. A desire to engage in stereotypical female activities that they thought would be impossible with a baby boy.

Imagine the outrage if fathers were selecting baby boys over girls, citing reasons like:

I’m not into dollhouses and tea parties. I’m not into a lot of things girls represent and girls do. I’d like to be able play catch with my son just like I did with my old man. And we all know that girls can’t throw. I yearn for some male bonding with a son that would be impossible with a baby girl…

I guess gender stereotyping is ok if it’s done by affluent American women.