Parents are taking their parenting very seriously.

Before their spawn has even left the womb, they’re imposing gender on it, spectacularly, through the social media-driven trend of the ‘gender reveal’.

Gender is a social construct, while sex refers to genitalia. If you want a more detailed description of the difference between the two, you can go here.

The gender binary is reinforced at the gender reveal by the colours pink (for girls) and blue (for boys).

These colours take the form of string or balloons or projectiles that can be released near, sprayed/shot at, or discovered by the expecting parents.

Alternately, you can do what this American couple did, and involve a live alligator in the process while children roll around on the ground nearby.

Another option is to start a wildfire that takes out nearly 47 000 acres like this couple in Arizona.

Check it out:

.

I guess it’s a boy?

The flames from the ‘gender reveal’ spread to the nearby Coronado National Forest, with the 37-year-old expectant dad packing that target with a highly explosive substance called Tannerite.

They aren’t the only ones who think blowing things up is a great way to reveal a baby’s gender.

Newsweek reported on another recent case of what is referred to here as ‘burnouts’.

“Burnouts,” where cars give off pink or blue smoke, have become an increasingly popular part of gender reveal parties in Australia. However, they are also dangerous, as indicated in a video released by the Queensland Police Service.

Yes, there’s a video:

The real mystery is not the sex of the baby, but why these people are allowed to parent children at all.

Gender-reveal stunts have grown exponentially, both in popularity and scale: Where once the sex of a baby would be revealed by slicing into a cake with pink or blue filling, social media has led some expectant parents to ramp up to more outlandish—and dangerous—stunts.

Maybe if we start calling them what they really are – genital reveals – people will stop doing them.

[source:newsweek]