Munroe Bergdorf has warned that gender reveal parties could be “dangerous” for transgender children.
Speaking on the first episode of season two of The Independent’s dating and relationships podcast, Millennial Love, the writer and activist explained that the concept of celebrating a child’s biological sex ahead of their birth is problematic if, when they get older, they choose to live according to a different gender.
“It’s dangerous for gender nonconforming children or trans children because all you’re doing is revealing your child’s genitals,” Bergdorf said.
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“You have no idea how that child is going to identify and [gender reveal parties] are just placing all of your hopes and dreams on this child based on their gender.”
Bergdorf went on to explain that the concept may also foster a culture whereby parents place more value on one particular sex or gender than another.
“You see like videos of dads getting upset when they find out they’ve got a girl or mum’s get upset because they’ve got a boy,” she said.
“Fair enough if you want to celebrate that you’re having a child but that should be it, you know?”
Elsewhere in the episode, Bergdorf, who told friends she was going to transition from male to female aged 23, explains why the concept of “coming out” is fundamentally problematic.
“If I had it my way then no one would have to come out,” Bergdorf said.
“But we do live in a society where cisgendered people are seen as the default. Really what we need to do is start breaking that down and then people won’t need to come out because we’ll all be seen as equal.”
You can listen to the full episode of Millennial Love here and stay up to date with the podcast by following The Independent lifestyle desk on Instagram here.
