Gender reveal nonsense

[my3bears]

This whole make a big thing with a gender reveal - glitter, balloons, cakes with coloured centres etc

Then the parents act all surprised 😱

Isn't the biggest 'gender reveal' just to wait until they are born???

This really flipping irritates me and it's so American.

Just watched the LaBrant Family gender reveal (it came up on my timeline..why do I click on things that irritate me 😂) Boy it made my teeth itch!!

Aibu 🙄😂 anyone with me? Don't even get me started on baby showers....

It's not my thing but really its just an excuse for a party. What's it to you if people want to get a few family and friends together on a Saturday afternoon? Are you also against weddings, birthdays, after work drinks, Christmas, BBQs, graduation parties, dinner at restaurants, wine and cake. It's all nonsense isn't it? Why don't we all just stay at home all the time and eat carrot sticks alone. Much more sensible.

My Sister in law did one - I was a bit cynical privately and DD pointed out to me it should be sex, not gender!
But we all agreed that it made her happy so we bit our tongues and went along to the party - and quite enjoyed it. It was a good excuse for a party, I guess, and she loved it.

It wouldn't be my thing at all but I'm not going to piss on someone else's chips.

I am superstitious enough not to buy things for babies until they are safely arrived, including piles of plastic tat for the parents

Gender reveals (which of course are actually sex reveals) are awful, self-centered, and seemingly and increasingly designed to be so elaborate that they become a social media sensation

I chose to ask the sex of my babies at their 20 week scans purely because I wanted to know.

The information was just to satisfy my own curiosity though, not for some vulgar reveal party.

So, I would agree with you.

Think @OleannasWimple has put it much better than I was going to - couldn’t agree more

I am superstitious enough not to buy things for babies until they are safely arrived, including piles of plastic tat for the parents

That seems extreme to me. In the rare chance the baby doesn't survive labour most things are returnable...I can't imagine not getting a friend a gift for an expectant baby if she needed something until it was born.

brook - when I was in the middle of the baby years, I had a big bag of generic baby things that I bought when I saw nice things (practical stuff on sale, splurge stuff in TK Maxx) and then went shopping for something specifically for the new LO once it was born.

Most of my friends and family are past that stage now, though, so it's just a trip to Baby Gap or similar when the baby is safely delivered

No biggie. And certainly better than going back to Mothercare to ask for a refund in a worst case scenario

It's not gender anyway, it's the baby's sex

I think the thing I like most about them is knowing a few militant pedants get all annoyed about sex and gender and the fact that most use the terms synonymously.

DH and I were excited to find out the sex of our babies way before birth and tell our families and friends. No party but I couldn't care less if others had parties.

It annoys me more when people ask “is t blue or pink?” Neither, it’s a baby you twat

the people that do this are the same kinds of people who refer to their period as 'she', as in 'the bitch is here, i wish she'd fuck off' etc.

personifying blood and yet turning human beings into colours. some times i want to get off the world.

These days, what's the point? The child will most probably decide that it wants to identify as the other sex (or a penguin or something) by the time it's about twelve.

@my3bears - yes!! I find them SO ANNOYING!! At least, I find posts of them on social media very annoying. I think it's so strange, in a society where we are increasingly conscious that sex doesn't equal gender, that people should be putting is much emphasis on the baby's "gender" before it is born. And, often in such a self-centred, presumptuous, annoying way...

But then, I also do not like baby showers and loved the surprise of finding out my babies' sex after they were born.

I hate engagement parties, I hate baby showers and most of all I hate when people elope then come back and throw a party where you are meant to bring a gift.

I think they are all ways to get an extra gift for nothing..... but it's none of my business what other people do and I don't let it bother me any more than my opinion bothers them ;-)

For one child I have been invited to;
Sex reveal
Baby shower
Christening
1st Birthday party
IMO All about mother's need to be centre of attention

I think if someone hasn't been able to get pregnant, and it's taken a long time, then I can understand why you'd want to celebrate every little thing. I would go to a sex reveal and I'd be happy for the couple!

Totally agree with you OP

They seem like yet another grabby excuse for some attention seeking and gifts.

We chose to find out the sex of our baby and paid for a 16 week scan. This was partly through curiosity and partly to help with buying baby bits. It was lovely. We didn't do a party, just called the grandparents to be to let them know. Although I personally am not into the parties or baby showers,.next time we've agreed that we would like to get the balloons or confetti and invite our parents over instead. We don't expect people far and wide to give two shits but obviously for us and close family it's special and would be something different to mark the second baby.

It's not something I would do but I have been invited to a couple.

Both very happy occasions with lots of smiling and laughter.

My view is that there is enough bloody misery in life and if excited parents want to add in another celebration about having a baby then why not?

I think as Americans have such short maternity leave they make pregnancy
More of a party ?

I think they’re absolutely awful (we found out our babies sex at 13wks and just told people).
I wouldn’t go to one or a Baby Shower if I could help it but luckily I really don’t think I know anyone who would actually have a “reveal party”

If it was called a sex reveal party people might turn up expecting an entirely different type of event...

I agree the whole thing is a bit odd: 'Yay we're having a girl!' Are we celebrating that it's not a boy??

Also the cheesy pregnancy announcement photos are a bit much too. I'm thrilled for you but did you really need T-shirts with a picture of your womb on it?

I don’t like gender reveal ‘parties’ I think they’re OTT. But if people want to do just a reveal, well whatever makes them happy - they’re excited. Oh and it’s not ‘more of a surprise’ to wait until the baby is born, it’s just the same surprise at a different stage 🤷🏼‍♀️

I find it really weird too. The aggressive gendering of infants is always disturbing to me, and gender reveals are a big part of that. People can do what they like with their own babies, but the stereotypical associations that usually go hand in hand with a dramatic gender reveal make me pretty uncomfortable.

Life can be shit. What’s the harm in having some fun with friends and family and squeezing all the excitement you can out of pregnancy?

I’ve never had one, but then again, I don’t have enough friends or family who could give a shart about the sex of my baby

What I don’t like is people who say, ‘why wouldn’t you want to wait and have the surprise?’ Erm...finding out the sex at a scan or some gender reveal IS the surprise, and a lovely pain and blood free one at that! Spreading the celebrations, excitement and surprises out during the pregnancy just makes it more enjoyable, IMO.

Anyway, surely the biggest surprise of all, and the only one that REALLY matters, is the surprise of seeing your child for the first time in the flesh, regardless of its genitals.

It's quite funny that this has become a thing when according to the trans supporters 'gender is just assigned in 3 seconds by a midwife at birth' so perhaps you are actually revealing the wrong gender ??!!!!!