With forest fires, weirdly rigid gender roles, and far too many guns for something involving infants, we can all agree that gender reveal parties need to stop.
If gender reveal parties are still a thing in 5 years I’ll just go ahead and die
— Jay Sara (Crypto Crusader) (@SpankedBrunch) July 26, 2019
Now the woman credited with inventing the pink and blue nightmares has come forward to say enough is enough.
“A weird thing came up on Twitter, so I figured I’d share here,” wrote Jenna Myers Karvunidis in a post on Facebook. “Someone remembered it was me who ‘invented’ the gender reveal party. I had written about my party on my blog and a parenting forum in July 2008. It was picked up & and an interview with me was published in The Bump magazine and the idea kinda spread from there. I’ve got the article framed!”
https://www.facebook.com/HighGlossSauce/photos/a.110397032312047/2571530012865391/?type=3&theater
“Anyway, I’ve felt a lot of mixed feelings about my random contribution to the culture,” she continued. “It just exploded into crazy after that. Literally – guns firing, forest fires, more emphasis on gender than has ever been necessary for a baby. Who cares what gender the baby is? I did at the time because we didn’t live in 2019 and didn’t know what we know now – that assigning focus on gender at birth leaves out so much of their potential and talents that have nothing to do with what’s between their legs.”
Then there’s this kicker: “PLOT TWIST, the world’s first gender-reveal party baby is a girl who wears suits!”
There’s been some excitement about the creator of gender reveal parties calling them to come to an end.
So does this mean gender reveal parties can end, like yesterday? Also, I swear if my brother hosts one (& is stupid enough to tell me), he will only get feminist and queer theory books as presents for the rest of his life https://t.co/E8jWtnjdJf
— Dr. Erin Morris (@Morrsport) July 26, 2019
https://twitter.com/SHYNUDISTGRRRL/status/1154784645462024192
1. That kid looks so confident in that suit.
— camillapanda ⛄ 🔜 PAX UNPLUGGED (@CamillaPanda) July 26, 2019
2. Can we as a collective society end gender reveal parties? A baby shower is sufficient enough. No need to emphasize one part of the fetus when as a baby and person will have so much talent and potential to celebrate. 🙃😶
Despite cancel culture unfortunately still being in full swing, the response to her change of heart has overall been positive and welcoming.
https://twitter.com/lackingceremony/status/1154539826332364800
Yeah like. It’s really, really great to see someone go “actually, no, I was wrong, and here’s why”
— Judge Zedd (@EsserZed) July 26, 2019
Fuck yes. I love a good “I learned!”
— Judge Zedd (@EsserZed) July 26, 2019
Though some say it hasn’t been enough.
https://twitter.com/grabcocque/status/1154718728287858688
Twitter user @joshisnotarobot had a delightfully dark take on it.
https://twitter.com/joshisnotarobot/status/1154766879640162306
A debate over the best way to handle gender and infants cropped up, but overall the consensus was that as long as you listen to your kid when they tell you about their gender identity, you’re doing fine.
I love this. I plan to raise my kids in a home where gender roles don’t exist but gender identity is respected, so they feel free to decide for themselves who they are, without expectations or constraint, and while they’re too little to know we’ll just show them a full spectrum.
— feral streep (@ElenaBjxrn) July 26, 2019
https://twitter.com/lackingceremony/status/1154593899593134081
Other users discussed the major issues around gender reveal parties—you don’t know the child’s gender yet, it’s just an anatomy-based guess!—and how they play into how transgender kids are treated.
https://twitter.com/Chucko78/status/1154709579638476801
Parents are often the first and worst abusers trans children will encounter. To feel unwanted or to be made the scapegoat for the family’s problems sticks with you your whole life. That’s frankly all I can think about when I hear about “gender reveal parties.”
— Nowhere Girl (@Gwynnion) July 25, 2019
And there was some pushback, with people defending gender reveals or taking it as an attack on gender as a construct.
https://twitter.com/Momlife2325/status/1154745710836948994
I think its fine to have a gender reveal, the kids not born to be affected by it. However after they are old enough to choose what they like they shoukd be given options, not just forced to wear dresses and play with unicirns, or if male…..trucks.
— Heather Macdonald🐱🦇🐾🕸🏳️🌈🏴🦂 (@FraochEilean92) July 26, 2019
https://twitter.com/BDESTARK/status/1154769744680980481
Just because we’re recognizing gender is a construct doesn’t mean we’re trying to take it away from you.
https://www.facebook.com/AmberLeventry.FamilyRhetoric/photos/a.876062869213028/1372342222918421/?type=3
Twitter user @andromakie suggested a brilliant solution that respects the child’s gender identity and grants them agency.
Maybe we could wait and have gender reveal parties at somewhere between 10 and 16 when the child is comfortable identifying (or choosing not to choose) their gender? Then you could have baby shower cake AND gender reveal cake.
— Jo F (@andromakie) July 26, 2019
And there were a couple of other delightfully ironic suggestions, too.
https://twitter.com/darsynia/status/1154571368551387136
https://twitter.com/StinkBrigade/status/1154677307224801280
Power move: the answer is no but there’s still cake
— D. B. Graves 🌻 (@dbgravesauthor) July 26, 2019
Given how popular gender reveal parties have become, some people were shocked to discover that they are a relatively new trend.
I really thought this came about in like the 1950’s >>
— Py (@Maractacular) July 26, 2019
I knew gender reveal parties were new, but I didn’t realise they were *that* new. I’d always guessed mid 90s or something. Crazy that in just a few years it completely infiltrated the public conscious.
— gwenaissance (@Cpt_PORL) July 26, 2019
And people were generally there for Karvunidis’ parenting.
As a trans guy I can’t say like how touched something so simple like this is. A+ parenting to be sure!!!
— GRIMA 💜 (@RainyAdrian) July 26, 2019
https://twitter.com/LaurenLFTP/status/1154744099569713152
i cannot stress enough how healthy and supportive this is.
— mateusz 🦠 (@piotrowskixx) July 26, 2019
So now that the inventor of gender reveal parties has turned against them can we please just let them die? The unburnt forests will thank you.
READ MORE:
- Here’s the video of the gender-reveal that caused $8 million in damages
- Guns, glitter, and studs: The weirdest ways to reveal your baby’s gender
- Mom goes viral with gender reveal photo shoot for her 20-year-old trans son
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