It's a boy, so what?

I was just catching up on my reading when I saw the article in the New York Times about the newly born Japanese prince. He has two older sisters and a female cousin. Just before his mother became pregnant with him, Japanese lawmakers were working on drafting a law that would allow his cousin, only child of the "first in line," to inherit the throne.

Now all of Japan is ecstatic! A male baby! The Chrysanthemum Throne is saved!

The pressure to produce a male heir, which biologically is actually the job of the male parent, has produced so much pressure that his intelligent and educated aunt, Crown Princess Masako, 42, has become a depressed recluse.

Honestly, I've never understood this "male is better" thing. We have three daughters and two sons in that order, and when we were an "only daughters" family I felt no pressure to "produce" a boy. Actually the only time I felt that it would be advantageous was after having our first son, since I didn't want him to be "an only son."

The boys are less than two and a half years apart, two school years, and thank G-d they are good friends with lots of friends in common. They're all grown up, as you probably know.

I feel sorry for those Japanese princesses and even sorrier for that newborn prince, who will never be able to live the life he wants. He was conceived to be Emperor, not an individual. How sad.