Pregnant Emily Ratajkowski has a simple answer for people asking the gender of her unborn child: ‘They’ll let us know when they’re 18’
(emrata/ Instagram)
Emily Ratajkowski has announced that she is pregnant with her first child, but doesn’t want to reveal the baby’s gender.
In a personal essay published by Vogue, Ratajkowski discussed her feelings about her unborn child’s gender and identity.
She explained that when she and her husband tell friends that she’s pregnant, they are immediately faced with questions about the baby’s gender.
“We like to respond that we won’t know the gender until our child is 18 and that they’ll let us know then,” she wrote.
“Everyone laughs at this. There is a truth to our line, though, one that hints at possibilities that are much more complex than whatever genitalia our child might be born with: the truth that we ultimately have no idea who — rather than what — is growing inside my belly.”
The model and actor said that although she wants to force “as few gender stereotypes on my child as possible”, she understands “the desire to know the gender of our fetus”.
“It feels like the first real opportunity to glimpse who they might be,” she said. “As my body changes in bizarre and unfamiliar ways, it’s comforting to obtain any information that might make what’s coming feel more real.”
Emily Ratajkowski is 20 weeks pregnant.
At 20 weeks pregnant, Emily Ratajkowski has already been bombarded with expectations surrounding her baby’s gender.
“According to friends and strangers alike, even my pregnancy itself seems to be affected by the gender of my child,” she said.
“Where I’ll carry (Boys are low! Girls sit higher and make you sick in the first trimester!), what I’ll want to eat (craving sweets means a girl!), and even what will turn me on (carrying a boy means more of a sex drive!).
“A makeup artist applies mascara to my eyes as he tells me that carrying a girl takes the mother’s beauty away.”
But Ratajkowski wrote: “I don’t like that we force gender-based preconceptions onto people, let alone babies.
“I want to be a parent who allows my child to show themself to me… I don’t try to envision a pink or blue blanket in my arms. I’m too humbled to have any false notions of control.
“I’m completely and undeniably helpless when it comes to almost everything surrounding my pregnancy: how my body will change, who my child will be. But I’m surprisingly unbothered.
“Instead of feeling afraid, I feel a new sense of peace. I’m already learning from this person inside my body. I’m full of wonder.”
