I was 7 years old when my cousin started to get what I thought was fat. I even told my mommy “Chrissy is getting fat, she needs to workout”. My mom then explained that she was having a baby and she was going to get bigger within the next few months, I did not really understand what she meant I just knew I was getting another cousin to play with and that was awesome! Being 7 they kept trying to get me to guess if it was a girl or boy but I had no idea. I just wanted it to be fun to play with. They even placed bets between the adults, I did not understand then how they could bet money on something they had no proof or facts on. Now being grown up I understand it’s a folklore practice directed that determines the sex of babies. However yes these signs are not scientifically proven over many years, families and friends have practiced looking for certain things to determine the sex.
Growing up as an African-American in my family we had an event and celebrated for anything. Graduations, going away parties, birthdays, baby showers and most recently that I love, gender reveal parties. I love gender reveal parties because of the suspense and also learning who in the family guessed the right signs and characteristics of the pregnant woman. My family loves to gamble, so we do a betting pool on the sex of the baby and whoever guessed right those people split the money. Many people do not understand how we can make bets simply based on “signs and symptoms”. Yes, it may seem weird to place bets on the sex of an unborn infant but that is what makes it all the better.
Many people will argue science is the only way to figure out the sex of a child and there is no way someone could accurately guess a baby's sex based on signs. Yes, scientifically you can prove the sex of a baby, or even if you are carrying more than one. However, this behavior of studying pregnancies has been proven true so many times, nationwide and even global. Cultural folklore suggests the sex of the unborn child is predetermined by characteristics of the mother and the timing of conception and practices at conception will ensure one sex or the other. Determining sex was rooted in African superstition and has been spread to every race, religion and/or culture globally. It has been called the folklore of pregnancy, their are also studies on it as well. The determination of the sex of an offspring in utero has historically been shrouded in mystery and has formed the basis for superstition and folklore regarding pregnancy and childbearing.
In the journal scholarly article “The Folklore of Pregnancy”, written by Connie Serowa Goldfarb in 1988 two studies were conducted and discussed about the folklore of pregnancy and determining the sex of babies. The article started with the brief summary in which Goldfarb stated “ The similarity of attitudes towards pregnancy and childbirth was investigated in two studies”. When the author says “attitude” she means feelings, thoughts and reasoning. Goldfarb took two studies. Study one examined the attitudes towards the preference of the sex of first and second born children among 1169 college students, who were not yet parents, in four samples, from 1978 to 1986. Studies show 5% of the men and 9.2% of the women would prefer Girl-Girl; 21.4% of men and 12.7% of women would rather have Boy-Boy. Also 14.8% of the men and 29.2% of the women Girl-Boy, and 51.7% of the men and 42 6% of the women Boy-Girl. These studies are not surprising because I personally have heard people say they want a son first and then follow up with a daughter so she could have a brother to “protect her”. In this study the same pattern of differences between the groups appeared over the 8-yr. Period. Over years many people still have the same thoughts and mentality even though it is years later and new candidates in the study. Research has shown little to any attitude adjustment and change in preference for sex of future unborn children.
Due to the fact the study was so long ago I conducted my own study to compare research. I asked 100 men and women at North Carolina A&T if they would prefer the first and second offspring be “Girl-Girl”, “Boy-Boy”, “Girl-Boy” or “Boy,Girl”. I did this to see if the results would compare to Goldfarb's. Based on the data I collected, before any calculations it is clear to see most people would want their first two offsprings to be “Boy then Girl”. 51% of the people who took the survey would prefer to have a Boy then girl. That allows agrees with the research Goldfarb's did. Following that 23% of the participants agreed on having a Girl then a boy, 18% would like their first two offsprings to be both Boys. Lastly only 8% would rather have both girls as first offsprings. My results and Goldfarb's do not differentiate much in percentage and seem to have similar results.
Now in Study 2, they studied a pattern of differences between the groups appeared over the 8-year time span. Study 2 compared five ethnic groups on five categories of attitudes and superstition related to pregnancy and childbirth and found significant differences among the groups. Some have their roots in ancient divinations such as suspending a ring over the mother to determine the sex of the fetus. Others have scientific validity that if the mother is with only one ovary, depending if it is the left or right one, a woman can only have either a girl or a boy. Most of the attitudes and procedures towards ensuring a boy seemed independent of sex and education. The sex determination signs were different for everyone from different household and traditions. For determination of sex, there were many practices and procedures to either predict the sex of the child. One being that if a pregnant woman's face becomes prettier and she begins to “glow” the child will be a boy and if the mother gets uglier and swollen it is a girl. This is said because they believe that girls are sucking the beauty out of the mother for themselves the whole pregnancy. If the mother is carrying high up, it tends to be a sweet girl and if you carry low then you will most likely have a boy after those nine months. A superstition that has been passed down for years and from each and every culture is that you can test it with string and a ring. If you tie a string around your wedding ring and suspend it over a said pregnant woman's stomach you can determine the sex. If the wedding ring swings in a circle then you are having a girl and if swings back and forth like a line then you will be having a boy. Many people say to to ensure a male child is to make love standing up and eat a lot of broccoli. Another way to tell is if a mother-to-be picks up a baby girl and she starts crying, the woman will have a boy while if she picks up a baby boy and he starts crying, the woman will have a girl.
In the African-American folklore superstitions, pregnancy symptoms are a huge factor in determining the sex of the baby. Such as morning sickness, cravings, and the baby’s heart rate. One I never heard of and did further research on was that if the father of the child begins to gain weight, “sympathy weight” it is more likely to be a girl than a boy. The proper name is Couvade syndrome, also called sympathetic pregnancy, is a condition in which a partner experiences some of the same symptoms and behavior as an expectant mother. These most often include minor weight gain, altered hormone levels, morning nausea, and disturbed sleep patterns. Research shows thousand male respondents to an online survey and said they were eating more as their partners’ pregnancies progressed. Their reason for it was eating out more frequently before the baby comes, the increased availability of snacks around the house, the desire to make their partner feel better about her own weight gain and being served larger portions.
Some people may look at these superstitions and traditions as crazy but they're all rooted in tradition. One woman, Chrisena Coleman, author of "Mama Knows Best: African-American Wives' Tales, Myths, and Remedies for Mothers and Mothers-to-Be" stated "I think a lot of them have roots that go back to slavery when we didn't have a lot and had to make do with what we did have”. In her book, Coleman says these practices were passed down from grandmother to mother to daughter over time and generations and are still practiced today by African-American women because if it was good enough for my mama and my grandma, it's good enough for us and our kids.
It is so important that the folklore of pregnancy stay relevant and these traditions that are NOT scientifically proven because it gives women reassurance. These traditions are fun not just for the woman but for the father as well. It could even be fun for the family, they could place bet’s like mine does. They also the suspense of knowing who is right and having a party or gender reveal to show they are excited to accept a little girl or boy into this world. Wise words from previous generations and advice along with signs may help the woman in her pregnancy a little easier. To know someone has been through the same thing and knows how you feel is great and you know you are not alone. This is why folklore pregnancy is so important and traditions need to stay