孝德似乎是放諸四海皆準的個人德行，古今以來中國人都如此理解或者假定，然而，夷考其實，則並不然。本文首先指出，根據現存文獻，唐代以前基本上只有孝子無數，而孝女則全付闕如。孝女罕見的現象似乎應該有一個經典的理據，而漢朝以孝治天下，政府大力推行的《孝經》正好扮演了這樣的一個歷史角色。本文將從語言文字的角度，仔細分析《孝經》中所宣揚有關孝道的思想，重點在於追溯孝德之專屬男性這個現象是否跟《孝經》的思想有一定的關係。男孝獨尊的歷史現象必然由多方面的歷史因素導致，本文旨在針對《孝經》在意識形態方面對這一個比較少人注意的現象可能產生的影響，作一個微觀的分析，從而指出《孝經》所宣揚的孝道完全與女性無關。漢魏南北朝各朝政府一貫推崇男孝女貞，政教所及，孝德於是沾染上性別意識和獲賦予政治性格，豪族以及士人上行下效，終於形成孝女罕見的奇怪現象。

Filial devotion has always been touted as a personal virtue that can and should be cultivated universally by men and women alike. Yet, this paper reveals that extant sources indicate that there were hardly any filial daughters in pre-Tang China, while there were countless filial sons. It seems that some canonical endorsement must exist to bring about this peculiar phenomenon of lopsided filial virtue. This paper argues that the Classic of Filial Devotion played such an historical role. Through a critical textual analysis of this classic, the paper demonstrates that the virtue of filiality advocated in the text was basically restricted to men only; state promotion of filial devotion in pre-Tang China was thus informed, at least partially, by the doct rine elaborated in the classic. In the end, government policy and aristocratic indoctrination worked in tandem and helped contribute to the dearth of filial daughters. Even though both vigorously exhorted all under Heaven to filial devotion, they proudly honored only filial sons from all over the state, generation after generation. Consequently, filial devotion became a gendered virtue and was bestowed with political privileges.