Last night as we sat on the couch talking about everything and nothing, the DH turned to me and asked, “If we ever have kids, would you want a girl or a boy?”

Let’s face it the chances of the DH and I ever having kids are slim, and slimmer.  We’ve always adopted an, “If it happens it happens” approach to the whole situation that seems to have worked out for us.  (More about how much that freaks people out another time.)

It’s not the first time we’ve pondered the question, but last night the DH asked it just after I had him read, “Men Explain Things to Me” by Rebecca Solnit.  It also came right after the bus ride I’d spent reading the #mencallmethings thread on Twitter; and, the whole “Occupy a Vagina” thing on Facebook.

Since my senior year of high school, I’ve identified myself as a feminist.  I’m not naive when it comes to what women face in this culture.  Yet, at any other point in time I’d have answered, “I’d want a girl” without really thinking about it.  Last night, however, I paused.  Being a woman has never felt harder.  Sure, my life is not exactly smooth sailing right now, but that’s not what I’m talking about.  How women are represented in the media, and how they are treated when they speak out online or in real life. How hard this world has become to navigate if you are in any way different.  Forget, do you want a boy or a girl?  I don’t know how I’d raise a child in this environment. The whole world feels hostile.