The grand gender selection debate

Mireya Torrero and Austin Book

The acceptability of family balancing By Mireya Torrero

A family of six needs a new vehicle, so they head to the dealership. Within their price range is a SUV, perfect for them, and a two-seat sports car. They sit down with the salesman and commit to buy. Then, the salesman pulls out a coin and flips it. Tails. They have to buy the sports car. WHAT? Of course, this does not happen. A family gets to choose the car that is right for them. Such an important decision is not left to chance.
  Buying a phone can be a difficult decision with the new technology now a days. Whether a person chooses to buy an iPhone or an Android, both phones are completely different. However, buyers have the option to choose the most affordable phone that is also best according to their needs. A phone salesman cannot force a buyer to buy a certain phone. Nonetheless, if a buyer knows how to use an iPhone and not an Android, the iPhone will probably be the best phone to choose. If the buyer has the money to purchase either phone, they should have the right to pick the one of their choosing, according their personal needs.
  A family has recently been considering a new home to purchase. This family currently lives in a house that has a pool but is also located on a very busy road. However, this family is full of little kids that are unsafe living in their current home because of the busy road. This family needs to buy a new home soon that will be located in a safer area. This location has to be a safe environment for little kids. After weeks of looking for a new home, the family finally has a decision to make between two homes. Both homes are within the budget but with different characteristics to them. The realtor selling the homes, tries to decide on what home the family should buy. However, only one of the two homes is what is best fitting for this family. The decision is for the family being as they are the ones who will live in it.
   Gender selection can be similar to buying a new car, purchasing a phone, or moving into a new home. The process of choosing the gender of your child has a variety of important factors that contribute to the final decision. Gender selection can be done for many different reasons. Family balancing, genetic disorder problems, and economic planning are all factors as to why a family could choose to go through gender selection. Family balancing is done for the purpose to achieve a balanced family where there are both genders in the family. For example, balancing the amount of boys and girls. A dominant family of all boys and one girl, or the other way around can be a bit intimidating and uncomfortable for the singled out child. On the other hand, selecting the sex of a child because of gender disorder problems in families is a more serious reason than family balancing. Genetic disorder problems link to the decision making of gender selection. Gender selection can be done for the purpose to avoid the birth of children with sex-related genetic disorder problems. In other parts of the world, gender selection is done because it has to be. The world is full of different religions and states of minds. The location and religion of families can be a big depending factors that leads them to make such a choice as gender selection. Some religions might favor girls more than boys or the other way around. The boy gender is highly favored in many parts of the world, and gender selection could lead to male domination throughout the world.
   Making such decisions can be a difficult thing to do in life. Making the right decisions however, can be even harder. Nothing is right or wrong. The decisions made by a person come from a background of what has been their life. Decisions like gender selection are not done in a blink of an eye. Families who decide to go through this process have a variety of reasons behind their decision. Such a decision as gender selection should not be left to chance.

The reality of “family balancing” By Austin Book

Scorpion cabbages, spider goats, and singing mice are all actual, startling genetic modifications. These “upgrades” are extremely unnecessary and honestly scary. Welcome to the reality of genetic engineering. The seemingly most popular form of genetic engineering is choosing the sex of a baby. This method is widely controversial for many reasons. The bottom line is: choosing the sex of a baby is immoral.

  “Family balancing” is the current, culturally accepted term to refer to choosing the sex of a baby in a family where there is already an existing child. The term may sound friendly, but the method is truly not. Gender selection doesn’t allow for nature to take its course. Many parents argue that a family isn’t whole without both genders. The argument is false. There are plenty of happy families with all boys or all girls. The idea of choosing a family member sounds preposterous, so why do people think it’s fine to choose the sex? Well, parents argue that they specifically want a boy or a girl. The want for a specific sex is extremely selfish. Parents should not decide whether their baby is a boy or a girl and argue they are simply “balancing the family.” They don’t need to have a boy or a girl to fulfill their selfish wants. Family balancing is an unfair excuse to choose the sex of a child.

  In countries like China and India, gender selection is against the law. However, gender selection still happens in some areas of these countries, especially rural areas. Many Chinese and Indian families value the role of a male significantly more than the role of a female. Women do not have even close to the same opportunities to men in these countries, which helps reinforce the idea that women are not valuable. Fortunately, in America, brave women like Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, and even Ellen DeGeneres, served and still serve as great influences to show that women can accomplish as much as men can. Men and women obviously are both able to manage successful lives to support their families, but an idea like that is radical to many in China and India. This leads to the want of a boy in many of these families. Even some American families want a boy for the same reasons. A predetermined bias against women should not be a reason to choose to have a boy. Yet, this is the reason that many families choose to have a boy.

  To top it all off, gender selection unabashedly strengthens gender roles that should not still exist. When parents who choose to have a daughter fantasize about having a daughter, they typically think of an ideal daughter that loves the color pink, loves to wear makeup, and loves all other cliched “girl things.” This is actually detrimental to the development of the child because that forces the child to think in a certain way. Not all girls love the color pink or love to wear makeup. This is an annoying stereotype that society continually accepts. The parents who choose a child’s gender generally envisions a child with all of the same aspirations as any stereotypical male or female. The reality is that parents do not decide who the child will be. The child decides who they will be.

  The sex of a child should not be decided by the parents. Instead, the sex of a child should be chosen by nature. If a child’s natural sex is a boy, then the child should be a boy. If a child’s natural sex is a girl, then the child should be a girl. Choosing the child’s sex is downright immoral. The sex of a child should not affect how much a parent loves their child. If it does, then that is a problem for the parent alone.