Being Able to Choose the Sex of Your Child

@ of dru's being.
I guess the correct way to word it would be that you're not changing the sex of the child because that's not possible; you're choosing the sex of the child before fertilization. So no, once the egg is already fertilized, you can't change the sex, but you can choose it before fertilization through sperm isolation, like Kurtni explained. And that's why I don't think choosing the sex of the child would increase the chances of having a transgendered child or a child who feels like it was born the wrong sex.

Also, I apologize if this response seemed condescending. I reread it and it came off as really condescending, so I hope you didn't get that vibe from me. :/

of dru's being.:

@ Kurtni
So what you're saying is that people can't change the sex of the child? I'm really confused. It sounds like you're saying they can't change the sex of the child, but I thought they could (and thus this thread).

You can't change the sex of an already developing child, but you can choose the sex of the child (what this thread is about) before development by allowing only certain sperm to fertilize the egg or by selective reduction of multiple embryos.

@ Kurtni
Oh, well, that's completely different that what I was imagining. Silly me. I take back my transgendered comments then. I thought it was, like, doing it at a super early stage of development when the woman was already pregnant.

I think it should be up to the parents themselves, honestly me and my fiancce want a baby boy quite badly, when we decide to start trying, however, I don't think I'd be too upset either way, I don't think.

But my point is what if all a woman's life she's wanted a little girl and she gives birth to a little boy, because this option wasn't there, and she didn't love him as much? Or she didn't want him?

Don't say that doesn't happen because it does.

Or another senario:

A couple just want one baby girl/boy and all of their previous children have been boys/girls and all they want is one little girl/boy.

I think people should have the right to choose this option.
I don't think I would.

@ TheMisdirected
I think anyone who wouldn't love a male child as much as a female child doesn't deserve any children and should get a fish until they grow up.

@ of dru's being.
It's all based on the mother's state of mind, it isn't always the mother's fault sometimes it is due to mental disability that forces the mother to act the way she does, my mother - all she ever wanted was a baby girl, she ended up with twins, me and my brother (he died during birth), my mother suffers from a mental illness and all she ever wanted was a little girl, I have asked her previously, what would she have done if I were a boy, she changes the subject. It is not her fault, my friend's mother had post natal depression, she wanted a boy and had a girl, and her mother went a bit loopy because of it.

Also what if there is a history of cancer running through the males in the family? Or mental/physical illness in the women?

I know families who won’t stop trying because they want one little girl and they have all boys and keep having boys.

People can do much worse than choose the gender of their baby before it is even an embryo; I've known people who keep having abortions when they find it isn't the gender they want.

This subject of whether it is right to choose a baby's gender will always be a controversial subject, there will always be controversy around abortion, gay rights (marriage and so on) and God.

@ TheMisdirected
I think it's completely different to choose the sex of your child because you don't want to give them cancer versus not wanting a baby of the other gender. Whatever the reason is, there's still no guarantees and if the baby were born the wrong gender and risks being neglected, the parent shouldn't have a child.

@ of dru's being.
I'm giving a number of reasons, this is what you do in debates isn't it?
There is never a 100% guarantee on anything. Honestly it is up to them, I’m not 100% supportive of this, I’m not supportive of abortion, however I don’t protest that is isn’t done.

Kurtni:

You can't change the sex of an already developing child, but you can choose the sex of the child (what this thread is about) before development by allowing only certain sperm to fertilize the egg or by selective reduction of multiple embryos.

It is not hurting a child. Therefore I have no problem with it, no matter what happens it will always happen.

@ TheMisdirected
The sex choice thing itself isn't hurting the child. I will fully admit to that. However, the parent not loving a child as much because it's not the right sex is hurting the child.

TheMisdirected:

It is not hurting a child. Therefore I have no problem with it, no matter what happens it will always happen.

That depends on how sex selection is achieved. If it's through abortion, I think you can argue that's hurting the embryo.

TheMisdirected:

I think it should be up to the parents themselves, honestly me and my fiancce want a baby boy quite badly, when we decide to start trying, however, I don't think I'd be too upset either way, I don't think.

But my point is what if all a woman's life she's wanted a little girl and she gives birth to a little boy, because this option wasn't there, and she didn't love him as much? Or she didn't want him?

Don't say that doesn't happen because it does.

Or another senario:

A couple just want one baby girl/boy and all of their previous children have been boys/girls and all they want is one little girl/boy.

I think people should have the right to choose this option.
I don't think I would.

Do you realize how expensive sex selection is? You're proposing it as an option for the every day person when only the wealthiest can afford it and it's still not 100 percent effective.

If you have all little boys and you'd be upset to have another one, don't have any more kids, because you probably cannot afford sex selection, and even if you can, it may not work. If a mother doesn't love her child as much because of its genitals, that's pretty perverse and she doesn't deserve that child and was too immature to ever get pregnant in the first place.

And, I know Dru has pointed this out ten thousand times in this thread, but you're confusing sex and gender. You may have some control over the sex of your baby, but you have no control over gender. You may want a little girl to dress up and buy dolls and play house with, but having a female child in no way guarantees you'll get that. If someone was so dead set on having a particular gender, I would be concerned about the psychological abuse they're willing to put the child through to enforce gender stereotypes.

I remember when i was pregnant the first time with my daughter, Ariadne. I had kept the gender a surprise, but I knew I really wanted a boy. I'm being honest, it was to the point where when she was born and they said it was a girl I was severely confused and felt like there was a mistake and it wasn't my baby. Like a day later, the feeling was gone and I love my baby girl more than anything in the world and I just think, if I could have chosen, I'd have a son and Ariadne wouldn't exist...

I think the only feeling I have about this is that you may be able to choose the sex but that doesn't mean you're choosing the gender of your future child, like Kurtni and dru have said before. Unless the sex is linked to any inherited diseases I don't think it should be an option.

@ Zee's Lost Her Wits!
Well, to be fair, you probably wouldn't just because you probably wouldn't have been able to afford it.

I don't have an opinion either way, if they bring out that technology were we can do that, than that's great for eveyone who wants that.
I personally wouldn't choose the gender of my child, but I don't see why other people can't.

I think that when you look at it from a larger perspective; national, global rather than individual parent(s)-wise, choosing the sex of the child before impregnation could be disastrous for society as a whole.

I mean, a large number of cultures still favour a male child over a female (example l example). Now, India has a ratio of about "914 females to every 1000 males."

In the long run, saying that most parents in third world countries who were allowed to choose the sex of their child before impregnation chose male children eight times out of ten, sex-ratio discrepancies within the population of that society may arise.

@ musical sneakers.
No offense, but I don't think a lot of parents in third-world countries could afford. It's expensive. Your typical middle-class family in America probably can't afford it. So it's currently not an issue of that.

part of dru's world.:

@ musical sneakers.
No offense, but I don't think a lot of parents in third-world countries could afford. It's expensive. Your typical middle-class family in America probably can't afford it. So it's currently not an issue of that.

Pre fertilization sex selection isn't the only method; there is sex based abortion and infanticide as well.

@ musical sneakers.
It's racist to assume that the bias for male only exists in third world countries, and makes it seem like they have some sort of backwards ass primitive culture and we need to be big brother, and make sure they don't upset their gender ratios. Male bias exists very prominently in developed, first world countries too, and the difference is we have the technology to make it happen with a degree of certainty.

@ Kurtni
I wasn't trying to imply that the bias existed solely in third world countries.

I was trying to put out that even though it existed across the globe, third world countries were more prone to population discrepancies because a large majority of them had a culture conducive to the removal of unwanted female fetuses, children, etc as compared to first world, highly developed countries (who also have large, institutionalised bodies) that moved to eradicate it of this bias e.g. women's rights activists, human rights movements and therefore balanced this primeval cultural norm out.

The thing about medicinal technology is that, even when developed and allowed in first world countries, have a tendency to find themselves creeping into back alley, unsafe practices that often endanger more than cure.

I don't mean that being able to choose the sex of your child is a bad thing (for first world countries). I just don't think that the world might be ready for that kind of technology just yet.

I'm in favor of it because I can't handle girls well.
I'm seventeen, I've babysat, and I do best with boys.
So I'm in favor of choosing because I think I could raise boys well.
As for girls, it'd be a disaster.