Gender-reveal party pioneer says her daughter now bends gender norms

One of the pioneers of gender-reveal parties has changed her opinion on them, explaining that her daughter, who she had a gender-reveal party for 10 years ago, doesn't subscribe to gender norms.

In a post on her Facebook page (named for her now-defunct blog, High Gloss and Sauce), Jenna Karvunidis set the record straight on how she feels about gender-reveal parties now that her daughter is 10 years old. "PLOT TWIST," Karavunidis said. The baby from that early gender-reveal party has grown into "a girl who wears suits!"

"Who cares what gender the baby is?" said Karvunidis. "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."

In a Facebook message with Mashable, Karvunidis said her daughter has helped educate her on gender. "She’s more of the gender expert than me. I’m just taking her lead."

Karvunidis decided to speak out about this after a thread on Twitter connected her to the history of gender-reveal parties. In her Facebook post, Karvunidis explained she had a gender-reveal party for her daughter in 2008, which she wrote about on her blog and in a parenting forum, and eventually discussed in a Chicago edition of The Bump.

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Gender-reveal parties started gaining momentum around 2009, and have since exploded. While they may have started with things like different colored cakes, they have grown into elaborate ordeals: People have used everything from fireworks to live alligators to share their babies' gender. But as Karvunidis touched on, they have been criticized for perpetuating binary views of gender.

"I've felt a lot of mixed feelings about my random contribution to the culture," said Karvunidis.