Funny how they seem to turn up at Antiques Roadshow…
Apologies for first video, it’s the Daily Express - ugh! - but so old I can’t find it elsewhere. Fun to watch, though.
And there’s this guy:
And then there’s the experts with pink jackets (both on the same day at the same location):
And a little before that, kids, apart from the rich, were dressed in whatever, until clothing manufacturers realized they could sell more product if hand-me-downs were only suitable for one gender.
Well, it worked for Ms. Pac-Man, didn’t it?
They were dressed in white, so the material could be bleached clean, and every baby in a family wore the same baby clothes in succession.
Yes, and we train them young! When my nephew was about 5 he told me he was glad he was a boy, “because girls don’t do anything.” At least not in the stories and shows he’d been exposed to.
Bows are not an appropriate weapon for a baby.
Yes, those cakes are hugely reductionist. But they are not gender reveal cakes. They are genital reveal cakes. These people want everyone to know what equipment their baby was born with. It’s creepy and dumb.
That lizard cake reveal comic is effing brilliant, btw. Thanks for that.
When I was 5 I was already asking “when would I become a girl?” When I was 6 I had depression from being forced into a male gender role.
I wanted to be Princess Leia at that age, because she got to wear dresses and shoot blasters.
that was our plan but during the ultrasound for the amnio we saw he (at least till we are informed otherwise) was already umm proud of the fact.
Me, too! Not so much for the dresses, but the combo of grace and ferocity was compelling.
I did help my nephew understand that girls also do stuff, even his auntie.
I’m glad you made it through what must have been pretty hard times. That’s so young to be bearing such heavy feelings. 
That’s awesome to hear. I’ve been running my own follow-ups and commentary on “Mommies are people” song that has actually led to some pretty great conversations with the sproglets, but good to see the creators of such a great piece of media recognize their own need for growth.
You might appreciate this:
First time I heard about gender-reveal parties I assumed they were coming-out celebrations for trans folks. Then I found out what they really are and went “eww…”
I’m a little unclear on where a glitter gun – surely a staple of gender reveal parties – fits into this taxonomy.
I’m a trans woman and this shit bugs me so much. It’s hard to feel like you’re being complicit in enforcing gender on a child by staying silent or you’re spoiling people’s fun by pointing out the harm in “gender” reveal parties. I’m always so stuck. So it just turns into a burning rage in my chest. Sometimes I can channel that into art, but not always.
It’s amazing to me how invisible the systems of gender are to most cis folks. They reinforce the oppression they experience without any thought. (What does that sounds like? Replace Gender with race and cis with white and you get the idea—these systems are all interrelated.)
There’s a great essay by Susan Stryker about transgender rage called My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix. I got a copy in a class in college so I’m not sure of a reputable place to link to or I’d share. I would warn folks that it does make some challenging analogies about the trans experience, but I find it to be very beautiful and insightful.
I sort of feel like the “gender reveal” thing was an attempt to be more gender inclusive with regard to baby showers, which frankly, were also pretty weird. At some point they said, instead of a party for only women, why not have a party for everyone and make sure that we force heteronormativity on everyone to justify it?
Yep. Not ANY day, as a matter of fact.
Meh. Fuck their “fun”… If someone found beating their child to be fun, no one would hesitate to call them out for what it is… abuse.
Agreed. It took a lot of educating myself on these issues to get to where I am now in my understanding, and I don’t think I’m all that knowledgable about gender identity. I hope to keep learning more and helping to make a more welcoming world for everyone no matter their gender identity.
Mandela Effect; do you remember the books about the Berenstein Bears, or the Berenstain Bears?
