# Americans prefer sons over daughters **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 24, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749 "2011-06-24T18:58:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/1 "2011-06-24T18:58:11Z")
"Americans would prefer a boy to a girl if they could only have one child. In the poll of 1,020 adults, 40 percent said they’d pick a boy, while 28 percent said they’d choose a girl. The rest had no preference. Funny thing is that the results are similar to attitudes measured by Gallup in 1941, when the boy preference was a 38 percent to 24 percent margin. In fact, Gallup’s done the same poll 10 times since 1941 and the results have always skewed in favor of boys." > **[Parents: Parenting News & Advice for Moms and Dads - TODAY.com](https://www.today.com/parents)** > > Parenting stories, trends and tips for every stage of parenthood More men prefer boys (no surprise), less educated prefer boys more (hmmm…) and Republicans are more likely to prefer boys than Democrats. I’m just not sure what it all means… ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/2 "2011-06-24T19:14:08Z")
I have three boys, and am so glad that I don’t have any girls. You never hear of boys running off to another state with some stranger they met on Facebook… ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/3 "2011-06-24T19:16:25Z")
That’s not too surprising. We’ve come a long way, but we aren’t there yet. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/4 "2011-06-24T19:35:41Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > I have three boys, and am so glad that I don’t have any girls. You never hear of boys running off to another state with some stranger they met on Facebook… Exactly. There are plenty of snide remarks that go around about the grief that friends who are parents of hot adolescent daughters have to go through. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/5 "2011-06-24T19:40:09Z")
Hmm. I was listening to a woman plugging her book on sex selection in Asia on Forum yesterday, and she said that when people in the US actually choose the sex of a baby they tend to choose girls, which is much different from the case in China. Perhaps enough of the undecided come down on the side of girls, or maybe people do something different from what they say they would do hypothetically. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/6 "2011-06-24T19:43:23Z")
> [@Palo\_Verde](#): > > Republicans are more likely to prefer boys than Democrats. “Congratulations, Mr. Boehner! It’s a Democrat!” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/7 "2011-06-24T19:51:40Z")
Probably that’s related to the education correlation the OP mentioned. Most people don’t have the resources or opportunity to do sex selection of their children, and those who do will tend to be in a higher socioeconomic class and better educated. Which still doesn’t explain why the correlation exists, of course. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/8 "2011-06-24T19:53:19Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > I have three boys, and am so glad that I don’t have any girls. You never hear of boys running off to another state with some stranger they met on Facebook… So all the girls who go running off are lesbians, or do the boys stay put and let the girls run to them? ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/9 "2011-06-24T19:59:53Z")
> [@Palo\_Verde](#): > > I’m just not sure what it all means… Men are better? ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/10 "2011-06-24T20:09:38Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > So all the girls who go running off are lesbians, or do the boys stay put and let the girls run to them? I think it’s the concern that girls go running off to meet creepy grown men, not teenage boys. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/11 "2011-06-24T20:11:51Z")
Oh. Eww. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/12 "2011-06-24T20:15:49Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Exactly. There are plenty of snide remarks that go around about the grief that friends who are parents of hot adolescent daughters have to go through. Yep. It’s like the old proverb says: “If you have a boy, you have to worry about one boy. If you have a girl, you have to worry about all boys.” ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/13 "2011-06-24T20:18:21Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > So all the girls who go running off are lesbians, or do the boys stay put and let the girls run to them? Humans are female exogamic; which is a fancy way of saying that yes, the girls usually do run off with the boys and not the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/14 "2011-06-24T20:19:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Probably that’s related to the education correlation the OP mentioned. Most people don’t have the resources or opportunity to do sex selection of their children, and those who do will tend to be in a higher socioeconomic class and better educated. Which still doesn’t explain why the correlation exists, of course. What the fuck is “sex selection”? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/15 "2011-06-24T20:26:20Z")
Interesting. One thing I can think of is that historically it was the male that went off to earn the living and I’m thinking that maybe the parents think, maybe even subconsciously, that having a boy will help out their living situation eventually and be more able to take care of them when they get too old to work themselves. Was that a run-on sentence? I suck at grammar. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/16 "2011-06-24T20:49:09Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > What the fuck is “sex selection”? In this context, using various methods to ensure the birth of a desired gender. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/17 "2011-06-24T20:56:33Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > I have three boys, and am so glad that I don’t have any girls. You never hear of boys running off to another state with some stranger they met on Facebook… On the other hand, my _World of Warcraft_ server had an incident where a tweener from Texas wound up in the home of an unrelated 40+ housewife in Ontario, Canada… so less likely, I’ll grant you that. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/18 "2011-06-24T21:00:02Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Hmm. I was listening to a woman plugging her book on sex selection in Asia on Forum yesterday, and she said that when people in the US actually choose the sex of a baby they tend to choose girls, which is much different from the case in China. Perhaps enough of the undecided come down on the side of girls, or maybe people do something different from what they say they would do hypothetically. If you’re only having one child there is an evolutionary justification for “investing” in a male as opposed to a female - which may or may not apply to human societies. You should also consider the difference between having one child and having two or more - perhaps American families who use sex selection are those having boys but lacking girls and want to “balance” their offspring. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/19 "2011-06-24T21:09:41Z")
“Passing on the family name” is also more likely with a boy. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749/20 "2011-06-24T21:10:11Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > In this context, using various methods to ensure the birth of a desired gender. But isn’t that impossible? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-prefer-sons-over-daughters/586749.md?page=2)