Cosmo: Why You Shouldn’t Have Gender Reveal Parties

Well, this is hilarious.  Cosmopolitan is now telling parents to stop having “gender reveal” parties for their babies… because it hurts transgendered people.  See the themes of the parties (like “Bows versus Badges” or ‘Tutus or Touchdowns”) always reinforce gender stereotypes… and some of these babies might grow up to be transgendered.

If parents have gender reveal parties, then it contributes to anti-transgendered hate.

Yes, really!  But you’ve got to read this to believe it:

I cannot stomach the latest fad of the knocked-up set: gender-reveal parties. The It’s A Boy/It’s A Girl fetes have been an economic boon to stationary companies and party supply stores nationwide; a search for “gender reveal” on Etsy yields 46,711 results. One former supervisor of a high-end bakery in Champaign, Illinois, told me she received queries about gender-reveal cakes once or twice a week. But despite the popularity, the ritual is a lot like a rousing game of Pin-The-Umbilical-Cord-On-The-Newborn: cutesy in theory, taxing in practice. At a time when work, family obligations and, you know, the dismantling of patriarchal social structures are stretching us all thinner than Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables, why are we focusing our energies on yet another afternoon of baby bagatelle? Laugh as we throw sperm confetti at mom-to-be! Eat from this bassinet-shaped fruit tray! Cast your vote for the sex of our fetus!

All this builds suspense for That Magical Moment when the future parents jointly cut into fondant cake, gasping at the surprising sight of pink or blue filling. Or pink or blue balloons are released from an artisanally hewn box. Or a rifle is fired at explosives packed with pink or blue chalk. Because nothing speaks to the miracle of life better than target practice, amirite?

But my discomfort with the gender-reveal party goes beyond my standard objection to fanfare surrounding gestational markers—which is primarily that, because we don’t celebrate non-pregnancy-related milestones with the same enthusiasm, we’re reinforcing the archaic notion that a woman’s value rests squarely in her ability to grow tiny humans. The issue with gender-reveal parties in particular is: Aren’t they potentially damaging to said tiny humans?

Of course, this is so stupid….  Liberals need to stop shaming people for doing normal things.

Image Credit: kgroovy on Flickr

h/t Cosmopolitan