Emily Ratajkowski has announced she’s expecting her first child with husband Sebastian Bear-McClard.
And if you’re wondering if it’s a girl or a boy – you’ll be wondering for awhile.
In a powerful and personal essay for Vogue, the model, actress and entrepreneur explains why she won’t be revealing the baby’s gender.
“When my husband and I tell friends that I’m pregnant, their first question after ‘Congratulations’ is almost always “Do you know what you want?” 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 writes.
View this post on Instagram
“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.”
But she also admits that she understand the “desire” to know the gender of the foetus: “it feels like the first real opportunity to glimpse who they might be. And 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.”
In the essay, Emily describes her concerns about parenting regardless of gender, and the challenges of misogyny, self-worth, entitlement and privilege which she can already foresee.
She also explains how her body is changing – and how uncomfortable her pregnancy can be!
“The sharp muscular aches in my lower abdomen….the painful heaviness of my breasts that now greets my first thing every morning…My husband had no physical symptoms in ‘our’ pregnancy, another reminder of how different a woman and man’s experience of life can be.”
Giving us all a glimpse of her gorgeous belly, she not only shares a photo (by Cass Bird) of her digital Vogue cover on Instagram captioning it “Grateful & growing”….
View this post on Instagram
…But also takes us inside her pregnancy journey so far in a self-filmed video, directed by Lena Dunham:
View this post on Instagram
“I want to be a parent who allows my child to show themself to me,” she continues in her essay.
“And yet I realise that while I may hope my child can determine their own place in the world, they will, no matter what, be faced with the undeniable constraints and constructions of gender before they can speak or, hell, even be born.”
Read the full essay HERE.
(Feature Image Credit: Tinseltown/Shutterstock.com)