Whenever I hear about a bastard child, it’s always a son. In both history and fiction, I can’t think of a single instance of a woman born out of wedlock being referred to as a bastard. Why are all the bastards men? Where are all the bastardesses?
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disclaimer: i last looked into this around a decade ago and am working from memory, so pinch of salt and all that
As far as i remember, male bastards are noted more because of lines of succession and gender roles
So women bastards are a thing, but they were deemed unimportant in history because of patrilineal succession, feudal classism (no one gave a fuck about peasants and the like), and general sexist brainworms
