A recent Channel 4 documentary, Eight Boys and Wanting a Girl, raised some interesting questions about whether people should be given the right to choose the sex of their child. In the UK, gender selection is not allowed if you simply want to balance your family out. Only in the most extreme medical circumstances – such as passing on a genetic disease that only affects boys – will it be considered.
But there are a growing number of couples who, although they love their children, feel that something is missing. Without that elusive son or daughter, their lives will not be complete. There’s even a psychological condition for it, called ‘Gender Disappointment’ .
When we see couples at Manchester Fertility, they are desperate for a child and they don’t care about what gender it is. For them and us, every baby is a miracle. Perhaps the pressures of modern living, and the desire to ‘have it all’, has a lot to answer for. Why else would some people only believe they’ve achieved the ‘perfect family’ if they have both boys and girls?
Last updated: 23rd February 2010
