Gender reveal parties have become increasingly popular as each new infant is brought into this world. It seems as if families are trying to compete with one another on who can have the most creative reveal party. From cakes, balloons, to car smoke burn outs, to fireworks, these parties are intriguing to parents who want to announce their baby’s gender with a bang. However, the way they are escalating have become dangerous. They are not only harmful to our planet physically, but psychologically when it comes to a child’s identity. 

Recently in California, the El Dorado fire was ignited by a gender reveal smoke bomb. This resulted in thousands of acres of land destroyed. First off, the West is already on fire. Who in their right mind would choose an element such as fire, in this area that is already suffering from devastating damages effecting millions, to reveal their baby’s gender?  

Would you rather have your newborn welcomed in this world with fresh air to breath in and a healthy environment? Or would you rather risk threatening that future environment with an ignorant reveal party?  

Secondly, do you realize, you can’t reveal the gender of your child? You can only reveal their sex. Let’s get some facts straight. Webster’s definition of gender is the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex. Sex, on the other hand, is a concept that is biologically defined as being male or female.  

Revealing someone’s gender is something that cannot be done, not by parents and not even by an ultrasound. In fact, gender reveal parties only limit the uniqueness of a human life and threaten the potential a child can have. When the sex of a person is the only description they receive before anything else, they risk growing up only to be considered in that stereotype, preventing the child from exploring their true selves.  

I don’t think most people consider their baby being anything but a male or female before their birth, when in reality there is much more to a person than their sex. How far will parents continue to go to reveal their child’s identity before the child is even born? Identity takes years of life, some even their whole lives, to grasp. 

The person behind the popular gender reveal parties, Jenna Karvunidis, is now starting to have mixed feelings about them with the help of her 10-year-old child. In 2008, the blogger revealed the sex of her daughter by slicing a cake at her very own “gender reveal party.” She posted the event on her blog which created a mass interest on social media.  

Years later, came a “plot twist.” Karvunidis explained in a recent photo, “The world’s first gender-reveal party baby is a girl who wears suits!” The child continues to educate her own mother about how gender has a wide spectrum.  

The concept of gender identity has recently become more accepted and understood in society. At the same time, gender reveal parties have become more common. With the harmful effects that these parties have, are they worth it?