The Bump is sexist

SummerOH · August 2015

I counted 25 weeks where baby is female in the weekly descriptions vs. 11 male. What gives? And yes, I'm extremely bored lol. In my defense, I'm extending my heavenly Lush bath!

TinyDancer51510 · August 2015

I noticed that too. A lot of pregnancy books/articles do it as well. Is it assumed most women want a girl or something?

sck601 · August 2015

I noticed a lot more "she's" than "he's" in the updates too

mamaksweez · August 2015

I could be totally wrong, but don't all babies start as a she and then at a certain week either become a he or stay a she? Then it would make sense that the first x amount of weeks were she and after that it was every other or whatever.

KaraEpp16 · August 2015

When I read the updates outloud SO alwayyyysss comments on the fact that I'm saying she. They can't really say "it" though?

deaddahliah · August 2015

@mamaksweez I'm pretty sure you're right about everyone starts out as a "she." That is one of the few things I remember from HS biology.

SummerOH · August 2015

mamaksweez said:

I could be totally wrong, but don't all babies start as a she and then at a certain week either become a he or stay a she? Then it would make sense that the first x amount of weeks were she and after that it was every other or whatever.

Kind of, but not really. All of our eggs are X, and sperm are X or Y. So sex is determined from the moment the sperm breaks through the egg. Sex organs may not develop until later but, chromosomally, sex is determined at fertilization. And it still doesn't make sense, because the weeks refer to female babies FAR into the pregnancy. I think it's like TinyDancer says - TB Gods assume women want girls more than boys.

CaraBoonie · August 2015

I noticed this too, I love that you counted it! haha...DH also commented on it at the beginning that they were assuming she...once we found out ours IS a she, he stopped making comments, but I definitely still have noticed it...I regularly check a few other sites for their weekly descriptions (but only check the boards here at TB!), and they seem to alternate more...

ashhsa · August 2015

I thought this post was going to be so different. There is a thread over on the 2nd trimester board where people are calling each other sexist.it seems to be due to someone having a gender preference. Very dramatic. I thought that's what this would be!! Haha!

l4rk · August 2015

Ahaha. It's just a place holder in English language, and usually has nothing to do with the context of babies. Using either gender is acceptable when it's unknown, but "she" is more common.

catgraz · August 2015

In fact, I quite like this "she". I live in Austria and here, they say "es" ("it") and I hate it. To me it sounds as if our babies were things and not human beings.

babybluu · August 2015

We watch the bump weekly video updates to see how our baby is doing. We watched it last week and dh goes "she knows we are having a girl!" I'm like, she always refers to the baby as she lol

UptownPearl · August 2015

I have referred to my baby as he this whole pregnancy until someone questions it and then I say "or she." I think I was taught at a young age to assume the masculine pronoun unless it was otherwise specified. Maybe the bump is counteracting sexist grammar. I can't be the only one that grew up with that taught process

littleloves3 · August 2015

I totally agree with this and it has bothered me as well! I assumed TB must be rotating by trimester, then got to the second and it's still all girl! Why don't they rotate weekly? Seems odd.

Paige6410 · August 2015

Every week on Wednesday, I text DH a screenshot of that first page with the fruit/veg and the little descriptions. He used to always text me back,
"He**"
He stopped because now he thinks it's a girl.

maddisonwallace · August 2015

@UptownPearl I do the exact same thing. To me it's like referring to all "man"kind. I tend to be a little bit more traditional than most, so the whole man thing doesn't offend me. I just consider it formal.

kmcc14 · August 2015

UptownPearl said:

I have referred to my baby as he this whole pregnancy until someone questions it and then I say "or she." I think I was taught at a young age to assume the masculine pronoun unless it was otherwise specified. Maybe the bump is counteracting sexist grammar. I can't be the only one that grew up with that taught process

Yep, that's what I was taught in grammar as well. The "she" thing bothers me because of this.

mollyj931 · August 2015

I think they are are afraid of all these women freaking out if "he" is used more and overcompensating. You know, "crazy feminists" and all.

indibidule · August 2015

Another random thought just occurred to me: what if the person who wrote them all has a daughter and had to remind themselves occasionally that some people have boys and those are the weeks "he" is used?

TinyDancer51510 · August 2015

UptownPearl said:
I have referred to my baby as he this whole pregnancy until someone questions it and then I say "or she." I think I was taught at a young age to assume the masculine pronoun unless it was otherwise specified. Maybe the bump is counteracting sexist grammar. I can't be the only one that grew up with that taught process

I took a screen shot and posted the peach week on FB. My future SIL was all "Ooooh, it says she!" I was like "Yeah, that's just the app." But thanks for assuming I'm dumb enough to post something with the baby's gender before we're ready to tell! :-P

hailees · August 2015

I read this as, "the sex is bumpist." That is all.

enkb · August 2015

I think it is that generally in the English language you use masculine pronouns, so the bump just went overboard trying to be neutral. It bugs my husband every time something says 'she' as he thinks it is grammatically correct to use male pronouns if sex is unknown. He's British so I don't know if its taught more strictly there or if its just a him thing.

kmcc14 · August 2015

enkb said: I think it is that generally in the English language you use masculine pronouns, so the bump just went overboard trying to be neutral. It bugs my husband every time something says 'she' as he thinks it is grammatically correct to use male pronouns if sex is unknown. He's British so I don't know if its taught more strictly there or if its just a him thing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------quote box fail---------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is grammatically correct to use male pronouns if the sex is unknown. It is taught that way in the US as well.

danasphillips · August 2015

l4rk said:
Ahaha. It's just a place holder in English language, and usually has nothing to do with the context of babies. Using either gender is acceptable when it's unknown, but "she" is more common.

This! I was taught that people now use "she" more as well, which used to not be the case.

TheLittlestDiva · August 2015

There was a push a few years back to use 'she' instead of 'he' when referring to an individual of unknown or unspecified gender. The reasoning was that 'he' had a good mulit-century run, and it was 'she's' turn. Not sure if that applies to the site's reasoning.

I purposely used 'he' during my last pregnancy, assuming that most people would go by the 'he'-for-unknown-gender rule. My mom later told me this was why she thought we were having a boy. People are going to think what they want, I guess? We aren't finding out the gender this time, either, so I usually try and refer to the baby as 'Peanut' and keep the gender out of the equation.

(This does not prevent the attempts at gender divination by every single person I know. Apparently I know lot of closet witch doctors....)

((Curse you mobile app for not posting my adorable gif of an eyeroll!!!!!))

SummerOH · August 2015

I just use s/he. Problem solved!

willashbaby · August 2015

i just refer to "the baby".

SisterSunshine · August 2015

Ahh, I thought you meant The Bump is sexxxy....which it totally is.

anitamtl · August 2015

The Bump just went too far with this, I can't take it! If you look at week 18, they change from "she" to "he" in the same post! No no no! One or the other!

"She's about 5.6 inches long and about 6.7 ounces now and she keeps on growing rapidly. (That's why you're probably feeling so hungry.)

What the heck is baby doing in there at 18 weeks? A lot! He’s working his muscles and practicing all kinds of moves."

The Bump is sexist

Re: The Bump is sexist

Choose Another Board

Search Boards