New Mom, Who Dis? Season 2, Episode 6
Meet Jenna Karvunidis. She’s a mom of two and she’s credited with throwing the first ever gender reveal party. Now, she deeply regrets it. So, in this episode of New Mom, Who Dis? I go to her house in Pasadena, California to find out why.
And the reason… is MIND BLOWING.
In 2008, Jenna asked her OBGYN to write down the sex of her baby and stuff it in an envelope so she could find out if she was having a boy or a girl, together with her family. After her sister baked a pink cake – Jenna cut into it and found out she was having a GIRL! It was the basic-bitch of “gender reveal parties” but Jenna’s little cake idea went viral, and today people are literally EXPLODING THINGS to find out the sex of their baby.
But here’s the PLOT TWIST – the baby girl revealed with that pink cake at Jenna’s party has grown up to be NON-CONFORMING in a lot of ways. At ten-years-old she’s confident, has short hair, and is unafraid to rock a blue suit over a tutu any day. And Jenna says, this is because GENDER and SEX are completely different things.
Gender is your expression of yourself and sex is your anatomy. So, is it A BOY? Is it A GIRL? Does it really matter?! As parents, what we really need to create is a space for our children to become who they are and to feel safe in doing so. But it seems the gender reveal party has made the sex of the baby the MOST IMPORTANT part about a person when really, it’s not.
Rather than announcing a “gender” with pink or blue, Jenna suggests that maybe it’s time we reuse some of those old bachelorette party decorations to announce a PENIS or a VAGINA. Because that’s what the explosives and confetti and cakes are really doing – announcing the shape of a baby’s genitals. (so… put that on the invitation?)
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Have Gender Reveal Parties gone too far? Did you have one? Would you have one now? Not only did I learn A LOT from making this episode, it went viral on Instagram and sparked a massive debate – eager to hear your thoughts in the comments below.