Elon Musk’s trans daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson has heavily implied that her father used sex-selective in vitro fertilization (IVF) when she was conceived in an attempt to guarantee a boy.
In a post on Threads on Monday, Wilson — who is estranged from her father and frequently calls him out on social media — accused Musk of viewing her as “going against the product that was sold” when she came out as trans.
“My assigned sex at birth was a commodity that was bought and paid for,” Wilson wrote. “So when I was feminine as a child and then turned out to be transgender, I was going against the product that was sold. That expectation of masculinity that I had to rebel against all my life was a monetary transaction. A monetary transaction. A MONETARY TRANSACTION.”
But what Musk clearly doesn't understand is that you can't pre-select your child's gender identity. It just doesn't work like that.
Musk has made headlines over the years for his controversial approach to fatherhood, including his decision to have 14 children in large part because he is concerned with population decline, according to Walter Isaacson’s biography Elon Musk.
Now, Wilson is suggesting that Musk is focused on having boys through IVF. Out of his 14 children, he only has two cisgender daughters and one trans daughter, the rest are boys.
“How the f—k is this legal,” Wilson commented on her own post.
But what is sex-selective IVF — because it seems like Musk might need a refresher course?
What is sex-selective IVF?
During in vitro fertilization, embryos are created and then can be evaluated at the earliest stages of development for a preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which can determine the sex of each embryo. Then, the healthiest embryo of the parent’s chosen sex can be placed in the mother’s uterus.
According to the National Library of Medicine, 2%-5% of all newborns in developed nations are conceived using IVF, and the rates of patients using PGD have increased from 4.5% in 2011 to 44.9% by 2018. Like Musk, more patients choose to have male embryos implanted, with 164 males born for every 100 females.
Is sex-selective IVF banned in other countries?
While sex-selective IVF is legal in the U.S., many countries have banned the practice. Canada, most of Australia, and more than half of all European countries have banned sex-selective IVF because of ethical concerns.
Why do people get sex-selective IVF?
According to the Pacific Fertility Center of Los Angeles, people opt for sex-selective IVF for many reasons, including family balancing, where parents choose the sex to “balance” the number of each sex they have in their family. Other people choose to use the procedure if they are at risk for gender-based genetically transmitted diseases so that they can choose to have a boy or a girl depending on which disorder they are trying to avoid. Some people may also choose to undergo gender selection because they don’t feel “psychologically equipped to parent one gender over the other.”
Does sex-selective IVF guarantee gender identity?
Dear Elon Musk, while sex-selective IVF is nearly 100% accurate, it only allows you to choose the genetic sex of the embryo and does not guarantee that your child will continue to identify as that gender. Regardless of sex-selective IVF being used, your child may still be trans.