From Agence France Presse, though you could probably find it yourself on Twitter:
“CAL FIRE Law Enforcement has determined the El Dorado Fire, burning near Oak Glen in San Bernardino County, was caused by a smoke generating pyrotechnic device, used during a gender reveal party,” Cal Fire said on Twitter.
This is the 2nd time that I know of that a major fire resulted from someone setting off fireworks to announce that their baby or fetus has genitals.
Congrats.
Despite the insistence of cis folks that trans people are obsessed with gender, I have often said that cis people are the more obsessed with gender, and this is exactly what I mean right here. Not only is there a weird fucking certainty that if your fetus possesses a vulva that it will grow up to be a human that loves nail polish and Jennifer Lopez movies, but also that your fetus’ future taste in cinema features is a good enough reason to risk burning down thousands of acres, a bunch of buildings, who knows how many animals, and maybe a few people as well.
I honestly don’t know how cis folk convince themselves that it’s trans people that have a gender problem.
Wouldn’t one of those cakes with gendered icing colors have sufficed to convey the message? Why do they feel the need to keep blowing stuff up real good to proclaim their baby’s chromosome makeup?
I think it’s more a case of stupid breeders than that they’re cis or whatever. Some people are just so impressed with their ability to follow inevitable natural processes. I have a small party every time I take a dump, so I sympathize (preceeding statement not intended to be factual). Seriously, though, this seems to be another case of breeders going “look what I managed to accomplish, that nobody else in history has ever managed to accomplish, wheee! look at meeeeee!”
Quote: “I honestly don’t know how cis folk convince themselves that it’s trans people that have a gender problem.”
Projection. I know it’s weird but we do see it all the time; people acting like they are being persecuted, all while it is those very people who are persecuting others. The whole freaking USA used to teach all its children that Native Americans were mean cruel bastards forcing the poor beleaguered innocent settlers from their homes and murdering them. And that’s not what happened at all.
I’ve never had kids, so I’ll admit that I don’t understand being pregnant, but it sounds like just another reason to party. It also sounds like a set up to push your child into a tired old gender box, where boys get trucks and girls get dolls, before they’re even born.
Does the happy couple expect gifts at gender reveal parties or is that still done at baby showers?
Perhaps the celebrations should be renamed :Stupidity Reveals”.
I agree with Marcus — it’s more a stupid breeder thing. But it’s also a reflection of society’s insistence on two gender “boxes” and that everyone must fit (or be forced) into one, preferably based on genital structure.
In my day, they at least waited until the baby was born before deciding whether its adult life would be spent down the pit or in the kitchen …..
There is only one possible use anyone could ever make of the information “whether the baby is going to be a boy or a girl”, and that is to commit some form of sex discrimination. You don’t need to be a boy to like playing with Lego. You don’t need to be a girl to like ponies. You don’t need to be a boy to kick a football. You .don’t need to be a girl to be a nurse. You don’t need to be a boy to be an engineer. You don’t need to be a girl to be a vet. You don’t need to be a boy to play soldiers. You don’t need to be a girl to like ballet. Come to think of it, you don’t even need to have a willy to be a boy, and you don’t need to have a fanny to be a girl.
So when somebody is prepared to spend enormous amounts of effort and money publicly announcing what ought to be an utterly irrelevant piece of trivia about their baby with the aid of explosives, that says to me not only do they think it is a big deal, actually; but they are probably prepared casually to use violence against anyone who doesn’t conform to their preconceived notions of genital-dependent behaviour.