some things just never change

How is it that a simple trip to Target to buy some basic baby supplies for Holden's daycare can turn into a deep probing of parental gender bias in American society? Well, I'll tell you.

It all started as I was browsing through the baby clothes department at Target, trying to quickly find something to buy for Holden (on sale, and something that doesn't look stupid ... apparently two tall orders for Target these days -- esp. after they nixed their "Dwell" line of baby clothing). I noticed a couple stacks of t-shirts sitting on a display rack, and then kept on walking -- but my brain said, "wait, WHAT WAS THAT?!?!" So I stepped back, and took a closer look at the graphic on the t-shirts:
So what's wrong with this picture (besides that it's kind of a crappy iPhone snapshot)? It seems all cute and innocent. I can picture it being worn by baby boys attending a Mets game or a Monster Truck Rally with their dads, and people thinking "Oh how cute!" But if you take even a second to really think about what it is saying, it becomes quite terrible in a hurry. Is there really still a pervasive gender preference that fathers have for male babies? Haven't we gotten past that in this country ... in the 21st century. I mean, we get all shocked when we hear stories coming out of China about infanticide and violence against female babies given that country's strong, documented preference for sons. That type of thinking could never happen here. Perhaps this t-shirt I found in Target was made in China (and they are playing a funny yet complex joke on American consumers).

I decided to probe a bit deeper, and found out that this t-shirt might simply be stating the fact. For example, Gallup polls taken since 1941 consistently show that men would rather have a boy by more than a two-to-one margin. A 2007 Gallup poll of adults in the US showed that all people (not just men, but women too) show a rather sizeable preference for boys -- with the top reasons being that "men can relate to boys better than to girls," "boys can carry on the family name," and "boys are easier to raise." Other reasons included "girls are too emotionally and physically weak" and "girls are too high maintenance." So Target probably just did their saavy market research, and they are profitably tapping into our pervasive gender bias that hasn't changed in the US since 1941 (and that's all the rage in China these days, I hear).

I'm waiting for Target to come out with a whole new line of children's toys (made in China, of course) based on the popular poem from the ancient Chinese "Book of Songs":

"When a son is born,
Let him sleep on the bed,
Clothe him with fine clothes,
And give him jade to play...
When a daughter is born,
Let her sleep on the ground,
Wrap her in common wrappings,
And give broken tiles to play..."