To think this new wave of Gender Reveal a bit crap?

[PoppyH56]

It just seems so impersonal. I think it should be a special moment between just you and your partner if you do find out. The whole popping a balloon in front of your family to screams of delight really makes me cringe. AIBU and a total spoil sport here? 😱

Maybe you just buy a random cake. It's got a 50-50 chance of getting it right.

I hate them their just another way to show off to the world. No one cares about what sex the baby is going to be apart from the parents and very close family. Everyone else is going be be happy you've had a baby and you're happy but otherwise not that interested. It's not an occasion that needs that much fuss,

I just don't understand why. I can understand a party to announce a pregnancy or when baby is born, but not sex because surely you're happy with whatever you get? The party element seems to be as if the only alternative is unpleasant so if guests are squealing with delight at a baby boy but then the scans wrong and its a girl then surely you'd feel bad?

Lweji

I'm trying to think if a party like this would have helped my older children, but for Child 3, the older 2 were determined that only a calf would do, so probably not.
When my second son was born, the doctor actually told me he was a girl. Then the midwife pointed out that he really, really wasn't (not a boast about his bits, most baby boys have massive testicles!). I don't know what the doctor had been looking at, but it was slightly worrying that she couldn't tell the difference!

If people want to do it it's fine but the assumption that other people outside of the parents and maybe grandparents are interested is a bit weird, I think. Maybe i' m just coldhearted!

It just seems that each life event is getting every possible commercial aspect wrung out of it.

I was watching 'Say Yes To The Dress' the other day and noticed that they do something called a 'First Look'. So they pick a photogenic location, have the groom waiting with his back to the bride, then take a photo of him seeing her for the first time.

Didn't that used to happen at the altar/wherever?

Just another opportunity for the photographer to make money, IMO.

It's not as if you have a choice of 10 it's a boy or a girl, people will find out once he or she is born. I find these sorts of reveals very self absorbed.

Tbh there are bigger issues in children's clothing than whether there are dresses in pink and trousers in blue. I fail to see the issue.

Not saying that gender stereotypes don't happen or arwnt a problem I heat dint think vetoing (sic) anything pink or blue helps

I find them so utterly god awful but I feel the same about baby showers.

Call me a horrid old fleabag but you don't celebrate baby until baby is actually here, wriggling and healthy in your arms.

[does a Les Dawson "HUMPH"]

It's not about vetoing pink and blue.

I think this is the most pointless type of 'party' to come out of America yet. If you cut the cake and it's blue, everyone squeals with delight. If you cut the cake and it's pink......everyone squeals with delight. Unless of course the mother has already made it really clear that she has a preference in which case it will just be awkward.

I remember when Stephanie Davis found out the sex of her baby on Loose Women. I am normally one to take a bit of an interest in celeb type stuff but honestly all I could think was 'why would anyone give a flying fuck about whether she is having a boy or a girl?' Everyone will cheer and applaud either way.

I don't think pink or blue themselves are a problem - after all they are just colours and I often dress my DD in pink bits because I think it's a nice colour I do hate some of the sanctimony around pink and dresses and dolls etc.

However in a 'gender reveal' it's what those colours represent that is the problem. These babies are being gender stereotypes before they are even born - no wonder there are so many teens having identity crises.

I told everyone we were having a green one. Possibly alien...

Who said anything about 'vetoing' pink and blue?
What I'm doing is questioning it. In particular I'm questioning why it's become such a big thing all over again.

People can do what they want, obviously, but my personal opinion is that it's absolutely naff as fuck. You don't have to throw a party for everything in life! My reaction to finding out a baby's sex is generally 'oh that's nice' and possibly 'have you got any names in mind?' I have no desire to spend a whole bloody afternoon round someone's house celebrating it. I wouldn't even give it an afternoon's worth of thought. It's not that important to anyone but the baby's immediate family.

I understand weddings, housewarming parties and celebrating big birthdays. Throwing a major bash for other occasions just seems a bit attention seeking to me. If you want a party with your friends, just have a party without making it a celebration of yooooou.

*he following quote comes from a trade publication called Earnshaw's Infants' Department, published in 1918:7

"The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl."
Move forward 100 years and you would be hard-pressed to find a single male baby dressed in pink in the industrialized world.

Am I the only person who suspects that oft-quoted, recently-rediscovered, "amazing fact" of being a typo or a spoof?

I don't understand those characterisations of blue/pink and can't imagine how a sudden societal polar reverse would have happened?

Sadly, I think the colour coding of DC we have now is the same one we've always had.

As to the actual question, "gender reveal" as a (new to me today) concept makes my teeth hurt. Both because of the misuse of "gender" and because it sounds like one of those social events where you're expected to squeal. I don't do squealing.

Each to their own, though.

I don't think pink or blue themselves are a problem - after all they are just colours
The reason I see them as more than 'just colours' - in this context - is that it encourages you to view baby girls and baby boys differently.
And from there it is a very short step to treating them differently.
Let's remember, this is way before puberty.

Agree floisme.

Having a BABY shrinks in significance to having a baby GIRL/pink/princess or baby BOY/lil man etc

Am I the only person who suspects that oft-quoted, recently-rediscovered, "amazing fact" of being a typo or a spoof?

I don't know - you do wonder sometimes. Things were different then. My Grandad, born 1901, wore dresses until he was about 2. I think it was normal until they came out of nappies (for obvious practical laundry reasons). I'm not sure when that stopped being a thing - long nightdresses were used until the late 60s/70s when stretch suits arrived (and everyone had washing machines for the nappies and plastic pants).

I personally th

YANBU

To be honest I'm not really excited abou what gender anyone's kids are except my own.

Not that I don't care. I just couldn't give a fuck!

Yes the idea is a bit silly but if it's just a small gathering with family I don't see the problem. Another thread today is by a poster that is inviting her mum over for meal and telling her the sex then - the replies from posters are the same as here - "God that sounds horrible don't you know no one gives a shit".

I mean I invite friends over sometimes for no reason at all, just to catch up. What's wrong with a little gathering at which one topic (of many) discussed is the sex of new baby.

And for all the people saying "why even find out", isn't that making more of a big deal of it? The sonographer knows and is happy to tell you, but you tell them to keep it from you, why? Because it makes the birth more special? More of a suprise? If it's no big deal and no one gives a shit then just let them tell you,whats it matter when and how you find out. If it's wrong, who cares - if you don't care either way and it's no big deal.

I personally think people dont care that much, at least our friends and family. Sure they are very happy for us but def not enough for a show off .
And I would not care that much for others, im happy for them, yes, curious and well wishing, yes, but do I need the cake or balloons and the big reveal? definitely no

I remember reading somewhere that he original association of blue for girls was to do with the virginal and pure qualities of Mary mother of Jesús and how she is typically depicted in a blue veil

Pink for boys as it was a regal colour

It switched as part of a marketing campaign by an ameRican department store and stuck

Disclaimer: citation needed!