Why Halsey Hasn't Revealed The Sex Of Her Baby
They're giving nothing away.
Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock When Halsey and partner Alev Aydin announced the birth of their first child Ender Ridley Aydin, they gave us a sneak peek into their approach to gender identity as parents who won’t conform to gender norms, carefully omitting any reference to the baby’s biological sex.
Now, as she expresses plans to boycott the press after having her she/they pronouns “deliberately disrespected” by Allure magazine, the singer is posing as an example of a new brand of mother who carves out a more gender-inclusive world for their child.
Is Halsey's baby a boy or a girl?
Neither at any point during their pregnancy nor in her birth announcement has Halsey ever revealed the gender of their baby.
And while some outlets have reported that the baby is a boy, the singer and partner Aydin, have yet to attempt to define their child’s gender publicly, presumably not wanting to do so before the baby can do so for themselves.
Halsey hinted that they won’t reveal their baby’s sex.
In her now-edited Allure interview, Halsey criticized the public for their “opinions” on her personal life.
“As if people were entitled to an update, like, ‘I’ve met someone, we’re going on dates, it’s getting serious, they’ve moved in, we’re planning a child, we are having a baby, we had a baby, this is the gender’” they said, “I signed up to give my whole life away; my loved ones didn’t.”
The brief mention of her child’s gender in this context imply that the singer doesn’t plan to give into any pressure to define their baby’s gender.
Halsey’s baby has a gender-neutral name.
Halsey welcomed their baby to the world with an Instagram birth announcement revealing the little one’s name.
“Gratitude. For the most ‘rare’ and euphoric birth. Powered by love. Ender Ridley Aydin 7/14/2021,” she wrote.
The name doesn’t give much away about the baby’s gender ― not that a name is necessarily an indicator of gender anyway.
Halsey says pregnancy ‘leveled’ her perception of gender.
Reflecting on her pregnancy in February, Halsey said that pregnancy had made them less devoted to gender binaries.
"I thought pregnancy would give me very strong, binary feelings about 'womanhood' but truly it has leveled my perception of gender entirely," she said. "My sensitivity to my body has made me hyper-aware of my humanness and that’s all.”
New parents are becoming increasingly aware of gender nonconformity, according to studies, and are less inclined to define their children’s genders in rigid binaries than parents in the past.
Halsey’s choice to not publicly define her child’s gender perhaps creates a space for her baby to choose their own gender expression as they grow up.
Alice Kelly is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York. Catch her covering all things social justice, news, and entertainment. Keep up with her Twitter for more.