# is it a boy or a girl?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-boy-or-a-girl/22406>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 14, 2000, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-boy-or-a-girl/22406 "2000-06-14T22:21:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2000, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-boy-or-a-girl/22406/21 "2000-06-15T17:54:23Z")

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interesting, hedra… I never knew that. My guess is that since fertility doesn’t seem to be a problem in my family, no one ever got a pH test.

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2000, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-boy-or-a-girl/22406/22 "2000-06-15T18:50:38Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> originally posted by vanilla:  
> I believe I read somewhere about if you have sex at the earliest time of ovulation, it’ll be a boy; after a week, a girl.

Go to the link I posted above. There are two methods that use that theory, except that they arrive at opposite conclusions.

The Shettles method (aka what **flodnak** posted): have sex as close as possible to ovulation if a boy is what you want. If you try to conceive two to four days before you ovulate, you’ll most likely have a girl. (reasoning: Y-chromosomes have a shorter lifespan.)

The Whelan method (aka what **vanilla** posted): if you want a boy, have intercourse four to six days before your basal body temperature goes up. If you want a girl, abstain from sex until two to three days before ovulation. (reasoning: biochemical changes that may favor male-producing sperm early in a woman’s cycle.)

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2000, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-boy-or-a-girl/22406/23 "2000-06-15T19:31:25Z")

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jayron 32: Assuming that we’re taking the number of cousins as fixed (16), and that boys and girls are equally likely by chance, then there’s a 2.1% chance of getting 4 or fewer girls OR 4 or fewer boys. This means that it’s going to happen one time in fifty even if there’s no real cause, but it’s enough to be considered statistically significant: The usual cutoff is about 5%. I include either gender and the “or fewer” clauses because you’d consider it just as remarkable if you had that few boys, or if the numbers were even more skewed.

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**Author:** ![tygre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@tygre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygre)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2000, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-boy-or-a-girl/22406/24 "2000-06-15T20:51:12Z")

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There is something called the Shettles method that has to do with timing intercourse to conceive a boy or girl. Basically, you try after ovulation for a boy, before. ovulation for a girl from what I understand. It supposedly works better for trying for boys.

[http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/2915.html](http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/2915.html) is a quick overview.

–tygre

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