"She Did It on the First Try..."

The whole world has been clambering to get a glimpse at Kate and Williams baby. Every magazine, newspaper and blog has at least had some mention of the Royal Birth. I try to keep up with the news, and although this 'news' required very little "keeping up with," I was  totally dumbfounded by a report I saw on, yes, that's right, the Jon Stewart Show. It was a hilarious montage of brief clips of different news agencies and how they had been falling all over themselves to be the first to air the news of the Royal Delivery ( not sure why I'm using caps here...guess it's the whole "Royal" thing...gah, I did it again!). The bit was funny...laugh out loud funny. Until one line from a British reporter stopped me DEAD in my tracks and all I could do was stare at the screen. It was something to the effect of:

" So many of the royal ladies have tried and tried, but here Kate is, she did it on the first try with a BOY!"

I could feel it in the pit of my stomach, that "oh my God, she didn't just say that" kind of feeling, that feeling you get right before you know you are about get really bad news. It was like that.  As the jovial anchor lady giggled with glee, my mind reeled with all of the questions that came to me almost instantly.

"Tell me again why boys are better?"
"Kate's a girl, we all seem to appreciate her...right?"
"They have a queen now, things seem to be working out ok"

Quips and silliness aside, I was initially shocked to hear the reporter, then almost immediately sort of like, well DUH, they wanted a boy, then shocked again by my reaction to my initial reaction.

There is a pervasive sense that boys are better, more valuable, and inherently more desirable than girls. And apparently, it's everywhere. As I read through Unnatural Selection  by Mara Hvistendahl, I'm learning that the phenomenon of gender selection practices is NOT found in poor, third world nations, but rather, crops up in developing countries on their way to economic prosperity. Weird. Not that it makes more sense for ANY particular economic demographic to be more inclined to these practices, but it seems particularly strange that as countries approach industrialization ( which typically comes with a supposed equality for women, etc) they  are spiraling into a world where girls are exponentially losing their "value."

That reporter's comment was loaded...LOADED. And I bet it went over the heads of most viewers. Maybe because people are unaware that such a strange practice exists and is taking hold in many countries, maybe because it's a pervasive ideology that folks don't spend much time pondering, maybe because everyone had Royal Baby fever. I don't know. What I do know is that it wigged me out something fierce. A woman talking about another woman, explaining--to the world-- how lucky she was that her offspring wasn't well..a  woman..albeit a little one.

Let's shift the paradigm, here. How can we help the world remember the worth and beauty of women and girls? How can we resurrect the awe and respect for the power of the feminine mystique? What will it take for the world to look at women and girls with honor and dignity? Forgive me while I climb down off my soapbox, but these are questions I need answered.