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A gender reveal cake sliced open with a pink middle layer suggesting a female baby

A gender reveal party is a celebration where either the guests, the expecting parents, or both find out the sex of the baby. At around the 20 week mark of a normal pregnancy a ultrasound technician will perform a medical ultrasound to determine the sex. If the parents decide they want to have a gender reveal party they will notify the technician before hand so they won't tell them during the appointment if they want to be surprised. There is also an early gender blood work exam that can be done as early as 7 weeks with 95 percent accuracy. The parties are planned by a relative or someone the future parents want to know if they decide they want to be surprised.

Description

See also: List of historical sources for pink and blue as gender signifiers

The gender reveal party can be seen as an analogue of the baby shower, which also employs the trope of pink (denoting a female) or blue (denoting a male) to designate gender. Gender reveal parties also typically are open to men and women, unlike the traditionally all-female baby shower. The rise of the gender reveal party seems "inextricably tied to social media." YouTube searches report that there are "more than 500,000 videos of expectant couples slicing cakes, setting off smoke bombs and bashing piñatas to expose one of two colors: pink or blue". The first public video of a gender reveal was posted on YouTube in 2008. It is said that the trend of gender reveal videos began to emerge on YouTube in mid 2011 and continued to grow in terms of uploads and views from then on. In 2017 there was 60 percent increase on gender reveal views compared to 2016. The methods include the release of balloons from a box, spraying silly string in the air in the color of the gender, and painting the partner's hands and having them place it on a white shirt to reveal the gender to name a few.

Criticism[edit]

The term "gender reveal" often criticized as a misnomer, as all available tests measure the child's sex, which may be distinguished from gender.

Gender reveal parties have become much more popular due to cell-free fetal DNA testing being available as early as ten weeks; some are marketed as detecting fetal sex as early as five weeks. The DNA test is non-intrusive as it only requires blood from the mother. Previously, the sex of the unborn baby was determined via obstetric ultrasonography between 16–20 weeks. The tests are not perfectly accurate, and in cases of sex chromosome disorders or other abnormalities of development their results may not match those of fetal ultrasound.

Gender reveals are also being seen as a form of ritual according to research "The gender-reveal party is a ritual expression corresponding to such developments in the mediatization of pregnancy announcements with their typical emphasis on gender." They can also go wrong if they are not done correctly. There have been specific instances reported in blogs as well as the videos posted online. The inside of a box may be empty and the inside of the cake may not have the correct color or it isn't vibrant enough to distinguish the difference. According to a perspective from ritual studies, "It is interesting to ask whether or not someone (the sonographer, the person who baked the cake, or any intermediary person handling the information) will be blamed for a failure, and if the ritual should be repeated or "repaired."

A significant issue is that as many as 4% of infants are intersex (formerly known as androgynous or hermaphrodite), though it is incredibly difficult to determine the frequency of these cases.

Critics note the existence of nonbinary gender and reject an essential and inextricable link from sex to gender.^{[dead link]}

The parties have been criticized for perpetuating gender stereotypes through themes such as "Rifles or Ruffles?" and "Wheels or Heels?".

Gender parties are also viewed as vain and unnecessary, a holiday championed by party supply companies in order to boost sales.

Sources:

Gender-reveal parties: performing community identity in pink and blue

Carly Gieseler

https://doi-org.manowar.tamucc.edu/10.1080/09589236.2017.1287066

A Gendered Bun in the Oven. The Gender-reveal Party as a New Ritualization during Pregnancy

Florence Pasche Guignard

https://doi-org.manowar.tamucc.edu/10.1177/0008429815599802

How do parents find out the sex of their baby today? Exploring the trend of gender-reveal parties

Elyse Samuels

https://manowar.tamucc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2038165227?accountid=7084