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C R E A T E A D |
Picking Genders for Kids?
| #1 :: July 9th, 2011 @ 1:54 AM | |
 UnaRaeSilly Spamming Sausage    211 Posts 124 Achievements  
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I saw this somewhere on the web and was so disgusted, I had to speak up about it. Apparently, people are able to select their child's gender when they visit a fertility clinic. I can understand the need for a fertility clinic in certain respects, but PICKING THE GENDER? Whatever happened to the "let's be surprised" attitude that was part of parenting in generations past? Are we so selective in these modern times to where we can basically play God in choosing the genders of our children?
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| #2 :: July 9th, 2011 @ 1:56 AM | |
| Christopher is a mall rat.  2,186 Posts 614 Achievements |
It's a thing called preference. Like, yes you would love to have a kid, but you really want a boy or a girl. It's nothing to be disgusted at, as people have always had a preference over which gender they wanted their child to be. It's just that now we have a means of "guaranteeing" it.   
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| #3 :: July 9th, 2011 @ 2:08 AM | |
| Marine Has a Strong Pet  5,836 Posts 735 Achievements |
This isn't a bad thing, really. It avoids any uncomfortable tension or feelings that may come from wanting one gender of a child and getting the other. Personally, if I ever wanted children, which I really kind of doubt, I'd like to adopt a sweet little girl. Is that no different than being able to choose what gender a couple conceives? It does not directly affect you, so how does it bother you, how is it "wrong"? Last Edit by:
Marine 7/09/11 - 2:10:12 am
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| #4 :: July 9th, 2011 @ 3:02 AM | |
| cristofer Gets Around  3,918 Posts 527 Achievements |
 gender =/= sex while gender and sex can be the same (born female, gender identify as female) they can also be different. so there is no way to pick the gender of a kid. for choosing the sex of the child, there are three methods which i have gathered from here 1. the "Shettles approach". where you have sex right after ovulation for more of a chance of a girl and 2-4 days after for a more chance of a boy. though there isn't much reliability in that practice. 2. for at least 3k+ you can the microsort method and have a 91% chance for a girl and a 76% chance for a boy. 3. for 8-16k you can do the 100% accurate choosing of sex with a very invasive surgery, hormonal treatments and being able to get rid of the fetus of the wrong sex. so you can't exactly walk into a fertility clinic and just go "oh, i want a girl!" and they make it happen. you have to dish out some hard-earned cash and even so the last option is mostly used by people to avoid sex-specific diseases. honestly, most people do have a preference when it comes to what sex they want for a child and i don't see the harm in actually making that happen.
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| #5 :: July 9th, 2011 @ 1:30 PM | |
| Dandelina Le Extreme Spammer  3,077 Posts 252 Achievements |
I am against designer babies. I am not against people who have hereditary diseases that only affect one sex, so they want to opt for the other. Also, a lot of people have issues with people of a particular sex. If a mother can avoid having a girl, and thus avoid passing on her own screwed up issues, then more power to her for knowing her own limitations and trying to avoid wrecking the kid's life. Obviously therapy for the mom would be the better choice, but that could take decades, and by then she would be unable to bear children. Would I ever do it? No, I think it's wrong and playing God, but then I'm not carrying adrenoleukodystrophy. Last Edit by:
Dandelina 7/09/11 - 1:31:49 pm
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| #6 :: July 9th, 2011 @ 3:22 PM | |
| Dickie Has a Strong Pet  285 Posts 529 Achievements |
Aww I thought this was going to be a topic about "assigning" a sex to intersex babies.
I'm torn on the issue. On the one hand, anything that stops unwanted children having to live a life of unwanted...ness is a good thing. On the other hand I despise anything that encourages sex or gender preference. We've got to not just consider Western societies but those where female babies have been left in the street to die or purposefully been killed. Do we prevent that happening by allowing them to selectively abort or choose against a certain sex foetus or encourage that mentality by allowing it? When my mother was pregnant with her third child (my brother), genetic testing was done as my sister and I were born with chromosonal abnormalities. He tested positive for a different genetic condition and my parents were warned he could be born in a "persistant vegetative state" but they went along with the pregnancy almost purely because he was a boy. He turned out fine and healthy but because of sex preference either a girl could've been aborted because of her sex or a boy could've been born with severe disabilities because of his sex.
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| #7 :: July 9th, 2011 @ 3:37 PM | |
| Puck_n_Loki Gets Around  4,709 Posts 455 Achievements |
 I wonder how many people here who see nothing wrong with this also see nothing wrong with allowing parents to choose for their babies to be straight? My own opinions have been stated eloquently above. While on the one hand I don't want babies born that are abandoned and unwanted or mistreated because of their sex, on the other hand this also reinforces the mindset as DickieTwinkles said.
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| #8 :: July 9th, 2011 @ 3:40 PM | |
| SEA The Royal  25,510 Posts 1,386 Achievements |
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Excited For Pokemon X & Y!| #9 :: July 9th, 2011 @ 4:48 PM | |
 Calicois a Skilled Hooker  4,727 Posts 747 Achievements |
It's their choice. I'm not going to say they can't choose. It's their baby. Pro-choice and all. I know if I have a baby, I want a little girl but that's just me.
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| #10 :: July 9th, 2011 @ 7:41 PM | |
| Skellington Is the Pumpkin King!  3,166 Posts 452 Achievements |
@UnaRae I think its loveed up, It just seems so picky to me, like not even in it to have a baby, if you truly want a baby you dont CARE what the gender is, only thing you'd care about is if your baby is healthy. It just seems like picking the gender is more a trend or whatever you wanna call it. Not sure how to explain it other than your supposed to be resorting to a fertility clinic so that you can be a parent, have your own child, know the bonds and love between chld and parent, NOT going in there saying, OK DOC I want a girl, prefferably with blonde hair and green eyes. But I guess since humanity is alrady playing god, I suppose all this should come as no surprise.
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| #11 :: July 9th, 2011 @ 8:37 PM | |
| Miazaki is a SUPER USER!!!  1,376 Posts 574 Achievements |
I'm scared of this.
Where do we draw the line? First sex, then hair colors, then skin tone, eye color maybe even a preference for height and weight. It's a slippery slope and one I'd not like to slide down in my lifetime. |
| #12 :: July 9th, 2011 @ 8:41 PM | |
| Skellington Is the Pumpkin King! 3,166 Posts 452 Achievements |
@Miazaki They can already do that if Im not mistaken :/ But I agree, to me they are playing god and turning having a baby into something similar to going to a breeding kennel to pick what pet you want. Having a baby is a special expeirence and if your truly in it to be a mother/father, all that should matter to you if that your going to have a baby and that its healthy.
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| #13 :: July 10th, 2011 @ 12:40 AM | |
| Halfling Donated to the Cash Shop  264 Posts 166 Achievements |
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| #14 :: July 10th, 2011 @ 8:01 PM | |
| Skellington Is the Pumpkin King! 3,166 Posts 452 Achievements |
@MyLady absolutly, just read peoples posts and you'll see more in there than that single sentence.
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| #15 :: July 10th, 2011 @ 9:27 PM | |
| Kululu Is a Survivor  3,433 Posts 160 Achievements |
Quote: Is there any argument against this other than "it's playing god"? My thoughts, too. I'm pretty sure that's a logical fallacy. To me, a non-Christian, it certainly doesn't mean anything, and we can't go basing laws and standards for everyone on Christianity. It's a wonderful religion until you start pushing its doctrine on others. I people want to choose the gender of their baby and there's no logical adverse affects, then oh well. My personal take on it is that people shouldn't have babies, but another oh well thing. Nothing I can do about that. Last Edit by: User not found (1): Vivid 7/10/11 - 9:28:26 pm
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| #16 :: July 10th, 2011 @ 11:07 PM | |
| Skellington Is the Pumpkin King! 3,166 Posts 452 Achievements |
@Vivid
Quote: My personal take on it is that people shouldn't have babies, but another oh well thing. Nothing I can do about that. Just curious I suppose, but why is this?
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| #17 :: July 10th, 2011 @ 11:19 PM | |
| Kululu Is a Survivor 3,433 Posts 160 Achievements |
Quote: Just curious I suppose, but why is this? I personally just don't get it, don't see any benefit whatsoever to having kids unless we become an endangered species. There's my logical thing. Not so logical reason is that I'm repulsed by babies, think they're disgusting, putrid, obnoxious, parasitic, and full of jiggly wet goo and feces, smell bad, and I'm really turned off by their dependency/crying. I'm always having dreams about being pregnant and brutally self-aborting It terrifies me. I'm celibate and have an IUD just to calm my nerves. :c I guess I have problems, though I also know quite a few people who don't and agree with the logical view that there's simply no need for more babies, that it's cool if anyone wants to have them, but it would just be nice if people thought about it more as a life choice rather than necessity to rear a family. But that's off this debate, so if you want we can take that elsewhere. ^^ Last Edit by: User not found (1): Vivid 7/10/11 - 11:20:27 pm
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| #18 :: July 10th, 2011 @ 11:26 PM | |
| ney Gets Around  7,331 Posts 641 Achievements |
i dont think picking the sex of your child is a huge deal (since sex is such an inconsequential thing really) but anything further isnt right in my opinion. |
| #19 :: July 10th, 2011 @ 11:39 PM | |
| Starfleet is crazy about vending  3,515 Posts 808 Achievements |
I am against this. Pick your child's sex. Then pick your child's sexuality. Then pick your child's skin colour. Not only is it extremely sexist in the most purest form (as if one sex is better than the other), but it can lead to even more extreme choices. If my husband and I decided to have a child, we both want a girl, but if we had a boy--oh well, we still love the child regardless of what it popped out as. |
| #20 :: July 11th, 2011 @ 1:24 AM | |
| Halfling Donated to the Cash Shop 264 Posts 166 Achievements |
@
Personally, if I were to have a child, I would want it to be female, for her sake, not mine. Let me explain: I'm petite, though I'm 20 years old I'm under 5 foot tall and weigh under 100 pounds. I'm fine with that because I do gymnastics to make up for my lack of size. But in a society where males are expected to be athletic, and are generally percieved as less "manly" if they aren't, a male my size would be at a disadvantage from birth. In school, he would be mocked and teased, and once he got a job, would even statistically be payed lower than his taller counterparts. I don't think it would be fair for me to bring a male into the world, knowing what little I would have to offer him in the way of physical genetic attributes. Why is it wrong for me to want the best for my child? tumblr 
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| #21 :: July 11th, 2011 @ 5:16 AM | |
| Socks Is Lonely  2,139 Posts 758 Achievements |
 All this is doing is guaranteeing a preferred sex - wanting a baby to be a particular sex is not a new practice, by any stretch of the imagination - I draw your memory to King Henry VIII of England who divorced one wife and beheaded another for failing to give birth to a (living) male offspring. I don't know exactly how I feel about this - sure, people can choose the genitalia their child is born with, but they can't then control if their children follow gender norms or not, or if their children end up identifying as the opposite gender to that they were born. Then, I'm a person who tries to see people as more than just what genitals they have - and it doesn't matter to me if my possible future children are born with a penis, a vagina, both, or neither. If other people care so much they want to spend a heckuva lot of money on it, though... Whatever, it's their life. I just hope the kid's OK with that. Incidentally, though, it's things like 'I want a girl so I can buy lots of pretty pink dresses!' or 'I want a boy I can play with my old trainset with!' that reinforce the idea that boys and girls are inherently so different that it matters which sex your child is. Since I never remember to update this, have ALL the links: |
| #22 :: July 11th, 2011 @ 5:40 AM | |
| dezi Posting Machine  97 Posts 85 Achievements |
i dont like the idea of having a choice of whtyourkid is gonna b i think you should jus let it b wht sex its gonna b
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| #23 :: July 11th, 2011 @ 3:54 PM | |
| Skunk Posting Machine v2  117 Posts 144 Achievements |
 Oh, I love the bullcrap "playing God" excuse. Some people want a kid of a specific sex, and are disappointed when they get otherwise. Less unwanted kids? Less problems. If you don't want to choose the sex for your kid-- don't. I know I don't. It's not harming you if anyone else wants to. Edit: Sex, not gender, I apologize. It's up to a person what their gender is.Last Edit by: User not found (1): Jerome 7/11/11 - 5:17:11 pm
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| #24 :: July 11th, 2011 @ 4:04 PM | |
| Ven is a Skilled Hooker  2,060 Posts 376 Achievements |
To be honest though when I saw gender in the title I thought it was going to be about...you know...gender, not sex. Any ways I don't really see anything against this unless like...someone wants a boy because they're misogynistic and then someone should probably talk to them about that, or like, in China where there aren't enough girls because everyone wants to have their single child be a boy. This is a really dumb 1000th post. :/
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| #25 :: July 11th, 2011 @ 9:40 PM | |
| Ezeku Blabbermouth  910 Posts 72 Achievements |
I think you're being a little narrowminded here. Maybe some people will choose this as a way to try and 'design' their kid, but really, something like this probably costs money, and there are a lot of reasons why someone would fork out the cash for something like that - the above example being just one of many.
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| #26 :: September 24th, 2011 @ 11:21 AM | |
| Nikko010194 Blabbermouth  765 Posts 66 Achievements |
 I personally don't agree with the picking the gender of the baby you're going to have. Yeah you may want a certain gender kid, but if you were meant to have them, then you would. And yes I know all the facts and what not. I'm not saying it doesn't seem right to me on an uneducated mind. I just think if it was meant to happen it would. 
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| #27 :: September 24th, 2011 @ 11:35 AM | |
| GalaxiesCollide Donated to the Cash Shop  100 Posts 175 Achievements |
I personally don't think picking a gender is a problem. It could keep people from producing 10 kids just to have a girl or a boy. (I have an aunt who keeps having kids because she wants a girl... she has four boys.)
There are too many babies as it is, and if this will help keep people from reproducing like frickin bunnies, then I am all for it.
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| #28 :: September 26th, 2011 @ 11:50 PM | |
| oki is a Sun-Worshipper  2,677 Posts 936 Achievements |
You get to pick the sex when you adopt. How's this different? I say: people can be parents in whatever way they want to up until the point where the kid is in danger. I say that because *I* would want the freedom to be a parent in whatever way I want. I honestly don't see a problem with this. I mean, it comes with a certain implication that the parent wouldn't be accepting of the child if it came out the way they didn't pick, but that's JUST an implication, it's probably not the case most of the time. And if it is the case, the parent's issues are bigger than just this one choice, and won't be fixed by preventing this one choice.
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| #29 :: September 27th, 2011 @ 12:05 AM | |
| Rattata is a Time Lord  4,721 Posts 620 Achievements |
  Nobody should make the choice for the child. I couldn't care less what their "reasons" are. Seriously? Preferring one over the other? If that's how you feel, you shouldn't be a parent. * * * * * * I saw the constellations reveal themselves one star at a time.
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| #30 :: September 27th, 2011 @ 1:06 AM | |
| Eternal is a Sun-Worshipper  1,343 Posts 611 Achievements |
 The natural thing is for it to be left up to chance. With sexes (which I just noticed is a palindrome, lol) being randomly assigned, we can be fairly certain they'll be a decent number of each. But if choosing the sex became the norm, what if having a boy was in vogue and comparatively few people had girls for a while? Or vice versa? That would probably cause some problems. Personally, if I ever found out my parents had chosen some aspect of me, I would probably think their love was not unconditional, and therefore not genuine. Yes, some people might consider that over-reacting. But if I would feel that way, there are probably other people who would too, even if they're a minority. Depending on the other aspects of a person's life, this could be enough to push them over the edge. So there are non-religious reasons why I would think this is a bad decision. I could probably make exceptions for gender-specific diseases, depending on how severe they were and how prevalent in was in the family. But that's it. If I ever do have kids (which I probably won't, but on the off chance, I do have moral values related to it), regardless of what sex they are born as, I am going to expose them to things associated with both sexes. Cartoons, movies, toys, and games marketed for both boys and girls -- so as to give them to opportunity to be whoever they want to be, without giving them the impression that there's something they have to be. Slowly, I'd remove the things they didn't like from my shopping list, as I discover what those things are. I personally don't think sex matters, if that isn't obvious. There are going to be kids who fit the standard, and kids who don't. If you choose the sex of your kid... Can you honestly tell me you don't expect them to 'act like' that sex? |
| #31 :: October 9th, 2011 @ 9:28 PM | |
| Appalachia Is Melody's Little Helper  241 Posts 658 Achievements |
 It's playing god, something that mortals have been trying to do forever. There is no getting around that. It's creepy to me. Why let a machine plan your child as though you were planning a new laptop or something? Yes, I know it is only gender right now but think of what will happen when many years from now parents sit down at a machine and decide whether or not they want their child to have red hair, be good at sports, or like candy or not. ... I plan to let fate decide what my child will be. 
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| #32 :: October 10th, 2011 @ 10:34 PM | |
 Dejais Shady  5,022 Posts 469 Achievements |
 "Playing God" - I'll interpret part of that as playing with mother nature.It is a fact that boys are preferred over girls. (There was research done, here's an article with statistics) That is just in America. Just look at China, where boys and preferred over girls. I just read an article today that stated- "There are 30 million more young men than women." and that's a problem. Boys are preferred over girls for many reasons and in many cultures. If enough people are able to choose their baby's gender, without a doubt more will choose to have a boy. It will cause an unbalance. Unless there is a way to control the practice and create a quota to avoid this issue. But that would be well a crazy, possibly political, mess to control that. Last Edit by:
Deja 10/10/11 - 10:35:35 pm |
| #33 :: October 11th, 2011 @ 11:35 AM | |
| Zay is Shady  488 Posts 722 Achievements |
 You shouldn't be able to choose what gender your child is gonna be. That's like choosing your socks for the day or something.. it just seems wrong. If you were meant to have either a boy or a girl, then you would. In the end it's still a living breathing person and you should love him or her no matter what. That's just my personal opinion on the matter.I'll wait to the day's end when the moon is high Then I'll rise with the tide with a lust for life I'll amass an army, and we'll harness a horde And then we'll limp across the land until we stand at the shore Last Edit by:
Zay 10/11/11 - 11:36:52 am
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| #34 :: October 11th, 2011 @ 3:49 PM | |
| Vuhjayjaylove Silly Spamming Sausage  266 Posts 98 Achievements |
 I don't find it a problem to me. I honestly could careless about other people's decisions on their child. It is what they prefer, and if health risks are involved with either sex and they want to avoid it, so be it. If they find on sex better, so be it. The sex does not necessarily have to be the same. The child could be a male, and identify as a female. Gender and sex are not the same, as @cristofer was saying.
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| #35 :: November 1st, 2011 @ 11:19 AM | |
| Fluorosaur Member  36 Posts 2 Achievements |
I don't see what's so bad about it. There are a lot of medically relevant reasons why you would do it (I think someone mentioned that certain genetic diseases are only carried in males or females), but even from a personal preference standpoint I don't see why people are so bothered by it. Then again, I think the whole "playing god" argument is an illogical argument in general, so I guess that's why.
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| #36 :: November 1st, 2011 @ 7:15 PM | |
| Lypsyl Is a Master Chef!  9,613 Posts 1,267 Achievements |
Choosing a child's sex seems fairly benign on the face of it, and yet I have to wonder why anyone would do it. There are few reasons that seem reasonable - the only one I can see being a sex-selected disease runs in your family.
In a sense I was a sex-selected baby - no that technology didn't exist when I was born, but I was only born because my mother wanted a girl. By the time my older brother was born, my mother knew her marriage was in trouble, it was just a matter of deciding when to leave. If my older brother had been a girl, I would not have been born. If I had been born a boy, I'm pretty sure that I would have at least one more sibling, because my mother would have tried at least once more to have the girl of her dreams. Did my being a girl benefit either my mother or myself? No, because I was never the girly girl, best friend my mother wanted. I was a very independent tomboy. Her expectations of me as her girl-child created a huge strain between us and I always felt like her love was conditional. Quote By @Eternal_Darkness: Personally, if I ever found out my parents had chosen some aspect of me, I would probably think their love was not unconditional, and therefore not genuine. The above is what makes me uneasy about "designer babies." As the technology improves more and more aspects about choices for your child(ren) will be possible. What about if there are other children in the family who have not been designed? Do you supposed they would grow up feeling like they weren't good enough? And what if the designed baby doesn't live up to the potential the parents programmed into it? We already have "sports parents" "pageant parents" "stage parents" - who try to live their own lives through their children, how much worse would the problem become if we could design babies for all occasions?
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| #37 :: November 1st, 2011 @ 7:54 PM | |
| Eternal is a Sun-Worshipper 1,343 Posts 611 Achievements |
No, because I was never the girly girl, best friend my mother wanted. I was a very independent tomboy. Her expectations of me as her girl-child created a huge strain between us and I always felt like her love was conditional. That sounds eerily like my relationship with my own mother. Quote: As the technology improves more and more aspects about choices for your child(ren) will be possible. What about if there are other children in the family who have not been designed? Do you supposed they would grow up feeling like they weren't good enough? I'm pretty sure I watched a sci-fi type movie years ago where that was pretty much the plot. The older brother was born in passion, and the younger designed. The younger was always stronger and 'better' naturally no matter how much the older one exercised and tried to improve himself, and it was like a social stigma to not be designed in their world. Unfortunately this was an language arts class I watched this in, and a long time ago, so I don't remember much else. We watched a lot of movies in that class. It's just a movie, but it proves that other people have contemplated that possibility. People already feel over-shadowed by their siblings without having them custom programmed to be everything mommy and daddy will love. Honestly, I just think this would make that problem worse. |
| #38 :: November 1st, 2011 @ 8:10 PM | |
| Medic The Doctor  1,295 Posts 825 Achievements |
 Deja pointed out, I would hope it wouldn't cause a problem like it has in China, where one sex highly outnumbers the other.As a future doctor, as long as it doesn't cause any medical issues, it's not really my business what people do. I'll just be really disappointed if the kids grow up and just happen to be boys and want to be girls, or vice-versa, and the parents will regard them coldly because blahblahblah I picked your gender for my own personal reasons but you're not sticking to my plans, blahblah. So if I get an angry parent coming in and whining about their child's gender confusion, I will have them swiftly escorted out. Just because you picked "boy" doesn't mean he'll act like a boy, and same goes for girls. If you're trying to protect your child from a sex-linked disease, then go ahead, I guess? And that's what I think. --------- @Eternal_Darkness, would you be referencing Gattaca, by any chance? Good movie. Last Edit by:
Medic 11/01/11 - 8:12:12 pm
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| #39 :: November 1st, 2011 @ 8:16 PM | |
| Eternal is a Sun-Worshipper 1,343 Posts 611 Achievements |
Looks like it! Thanks.  It was like, four years ago that I watched that, and like I said we watched a lot of movies in the class, so I ended up forgetting the titles of most of them. This coming from a senior reminiscing on her middle school classes. |
| #40 :: November 1st, 2011 @ 8:55 PM | |
| Disney is a mall rat.  3,108 Posts 617 Achievements |
However, that is because I have a rare genetic disorder, which will cause me to have miscarriages with boys. I have witnessed my mom go through the pain of having multiple miscarriages in the past, and if there is a way for me to avoid that, then count me in xD I also think this might help control overpopulation in a way? This could prevent parents from constantly reproducing until they get the certain sex they want.
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