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The Atlantic ·Smart escape

The Book Claiming to Teach Couples How to Select Their Baby’s Sex

by Olga Khazan

Published 2026-09-21 08:00:00-04:00

When a baby's sex is left to chance, what makes a debunked book feel worth a try?

0:00 / 13:45 · Narrator Gacrux

Context

Scientists settled the debate over choosing a baby’s sex naturally back in the 1990s: it simply does not work. Yet a self-published guide called the Babydust Method has convinced tens of thousands of expectant parents otherwise. A 21 September 2026 story from The Atlantic treats the trend less as a science problem and more as a human one. Why are people so eager to buy into an internet myth? The answer points straight toward the overwhelming uncertainty of pregnancy, and the quiet, often unspoken taboo of gender disappointment.

Show notes

A report on the Babydust Method, a popular online trend claiming parents can choose their baby's sex by timing intercourse. Drawing on interviews with fertility doctors and the method's creator, the reporting explains why the underlying science was debunked decades ago. It also outlines the psychological reasons behind the practice, showing how the uncertainty of pregnancy leads parents to seek control through magical thinking.

Read on The Atlantic →