Emily Ratajkowski and Husband Will Wait 18 Years for Their Child to Declare Own Gender

• Emily Ratajkowski and husband Sebastian Bear-McClard, are expecting a baby.
• The model wrote in an essay for Vogue that they won’t know their baby’s gender until their child turns 18.
• Ratajkowski and her husband will apparently wait for their children to determine for themselves if they are boys or girls in the future.

Model and actress Emily Ratajkowski recently revealed that she and husband Sebastian Bear-McClard are pregnant. However, the Gone Girl actress stated that she won’t know the baby’s gender until the child reaches 18.

Clearly, Ratajkowski wants her children to determine their own identity, and tell them their gender when they are old enough.

Ratajkowski said that after telling their friends she’s pregnant, they would  congratulate them.

Then, they would often be asked what they want for a baby.

“We like to respond that we won’t know the gender until our child is 18 and that they’ll let us know then. Everyone laughs at this,” Ratajkowski wrote in an essay for Vogue.

“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.

“Who will this person be? What kind of person will we become parents to? How will they change our lives and who we are? This is a wondrous and terrifying concept, one that renders us both helpless and humbled,” the 29-year old said.

Ratajkowski hopes to allow their children to be themselves, and not be constrained by people’s expectations based on the gender they are assigned at birth.

The actress also wrote about the effects of gendered expectations on young children.

“I don’t necessarily fault anyone for these generalizations—a lot of our life experiences are gendered, and it would be dishonest to try to deny the reality of many of them. But 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,” she wrote.

“And yet I realize 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.”

Ratajkowski still can’t help but wonder about her future child’s gender, and admits that she’s also trying to resist some gender expectations herself. However, the supermodel mom-to-be is bent on allowing her children to be whoever they decide to be in the future.