It’s a Girl! It’s a Boy! And for the Gender-Reveal Cake, It May Be the End

[conuly]

Oddly, this article doesn't much touch on the fact that the gender essentialism of many of these cakes is damaging for everybody. Pink or blue is one thing, but determining your unborn child's hobbies and interests based on their private parts is just weird.

When people who post their videos and photos of gender-reveal parties on Instagram accidentally tag the Gender Reveal podcast, Mx. Woodstock sometimes uses it as an opportunity to provide a little education. “I might say, ‘This is a convenient time to remind you that the genitals of your baby don’t determine the baby’s gender.’”

The poster usually removes the tag and blocks the podcast’s account.

LOL, yeah, I bet they do.

From the comments: I guess today some would have us bring up our children with no gender and just "let the child decide" at some point? I guess genital difference would be treated like blue or brown eyes, blond or dark hair.

I mean, yeah, that sounds good to me? What exactly are you imagining as the alternative here? Intoning "YOU ARE A BOY. YOU HAVE A PENIS. YOU MUST LIKE FOOTBALL. BALLET IS GROSS. DON'T BE A SISSY" every night?

Also, for everybody reading along at home: Yes, reveal is a noun. It has been used as an English-language noun with the present meaning since at least the 1600s. Nouns and verbs in English are pretty flexible anyway, but this has long precedent. Look it up.

Edit: Bonus comic repost!

Comments

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

They regulate chemistry set refills and fertilizer but then other things aren't.

(Honestly, there are chemistry experiments that use very small quantities of reagents but it's not worth the regulatory paperwork to sell them.)

[zesty_pinto]

Yeah, "It Could Happen Here" discussed the ready availability of thermite. I think it was used for that gender reveal that started the forest fire, though it could be something else, but otherwise this discussion made me think of that.

[conuly]

Clearly that father-to-be was a disaster waiting to happen, though.

[zesty_pinto]

I'm going to hell for discriminating, but the guy worked Border Patrol, so I'm not as surprised about it as I should be.

[hafnia]

Heyo, chemist here chiming in. There's almost no reasonable way to regulate "thermite". Thermite refers to the name of a specific set of reactions, not to the components involved. The most common one uses iron (iii) oxide (so, rust) and aluminum metal with some kind of ignition source (usually magnesium). All of these are commonly available and have legitimate uses for laypeople. The reaction itself isn't inherently unsafe minus producing an extreme amount of heat.

Do wish it wasn't quite so popular, but that's more from the viewpoint of, "YouTube and other streaming sites have made it appealing for people with no knowledge of chemistry or safety to combine stuff without a full understanding of how it works or what the risks are" versus anything else.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Ah, it's one of the MacGyver reactions (the magnesium was the limiting factor, in that at the time it meant damaging a $500 bike.) for an arc welder.

[hafnia]

Yup, basically. Everything is easily available — iron oxide is rust, it's easy to get aluminum (you can cast your own aluminium ingots at home from readily-available sources and then grind 'em, I suppose, if nothing else), and magnesium ribbon is surprisingly simple to source as well (or you can do as a high school friend did and stock up on sparklers on July 4, here in the 'states — the white ones are commonly made with magnesium). You can't really 'regulate' that, and they're not dangerous except in the hands of people who know a little too much about exothermic reactions (they're not explosive, just put out a lot of heat — fertilizer IS explosive, hence its regulation).

I will note tho, if you're buying certain stuff in large enough quantities, even if it is harmless, you're likely to get a visit from DHS or ATF, because they recognize it can be misused.