not everything is an ending

For the record this is also absolutely true irl, but for ease of understanding I'm going to talk about it through popular fandom tropes because this is the Popular Fandom Tropes Website:

1. To soften the male character: The interpretation that caring for a female child is seen as revolutionary "wow he isn't mad that he has a daughter!"* As well as the inherently gendered ideas of caregiving as a feminine trait– proximity to the girl child exaggerates this. (Not to mention that within masculine boundaries he is 'allowed' to be soft with the daughter but would 'have to' be hard on the son.)

2. Breaking the cycle: the common trope that the male character, replete with his own father-issues, believes that his 'bad characteristics' (rooted in his masculinity) would be passed down to a boy. Rather than having the character confront these ideas and in fact how they may translate to the daughter, it is seen as a finished story. "It's a girl! The curse is broken and you actually don't have to try not to be a bad father!" (Because if you fuck up a son, they become a serial killer; if you fuck up a daughter... well... who cares.)

Within this framework the man is 'allowed' to be vulnerable without having to confront himself, which I can understand is a very appealing shortcut.

Anyway, these and the many others that I'm too tired to think of now play into a toxic mindset that assigned sex at birth should play a part in how much you love a child, as well as it's perceived supreme importance in matters of care, behavior, interaction, and **

TLDR: it really shouldn't matter what type of baby you have 😭 just be nice to it and maybe go to therapy

*I am aware that this is common around the world because of the global masculine hegemony. I am also aware there are specific cultures where this behavior would be seen as more subversive than in a Euroamerican context. I still believe that this point translates and perpetrates a toxic narrative

FIVE