Getty Images | Jeneil S

The Inventor Of The Gender Reveal Party Is Now Completely Against Them

I remember when gender reveal parties started gaining traction. I was a fresh college student majoring in psychology, a program that often discussed and analyzed societal constructs, including gender. These sorts of parties never made sense to me and they were getting more and more intense as viral Internet culture continued to blaze ahead and gain momentum.

It's now just over 10 years later, and so much has changed. Even the inventor of the gender reveal party herself is condemning them.

When someone you know has a baby, you can be sure that the chances are pretty high that they will reveal the baby's gender in some way shape or form.

There has always been a big divide between people who are for them and think they are harmless, and those who think that they are pointless.

The more we discuss and understand the LGBTQ+ community, the more we learn that gender is just kind of an irrelevant thing to celebrate.

The fact of the matter is that gender is socially constructed. Just because you're born with a particular sex organ doesn't dictate what social tropes and codes you should ascribe to.

Ultimately, gender is performative, and if you're able to, I highly suggest you read or at least Spark Notes Judith Butler's Gender Trouble.

Even the inventor of gender reveal parties is now against them.

Unsplash | Deva Williamson

In a lengthy Facebook post, the mother who started it all reflects on the last 10 years of these parties.

Jenna Karvundis said, "I've felt a lot of mixed feelings about my random contribution to the culture. It just exploded into crazy after that. Literally - guns firing, forest fires, more emphasis on gender than has ever been necessary for a baby."

"Who cares what gender the baby is? I did at the time because we didn't live in 2019 and didn't know what we know now - that assigning focus on gender at birth leaves out so much of their potential and talents that have nothing to do with what's between their legs."

"PLOT TWIST, the world's first gender-reveal party baby is a girl who wears suits!"

Jenna's own social change teaches us that with an open mind and better understanding of gender issues, there is a lot more to life than shoving your children into categories that ultimately don't have anything to do with them as functioning people in society.

Now that's something worth celebrating.

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