Modern day men are more hands on than ever when it comes to parenting. But apparently that doesn't mean they can attend baby showers - not if they are employed by the US military at least.
A post on Reddit shows the response one US soldier received when he applied for leave in order to attend a baby shower.
"MEN DON'T GO TO BABY SHOWERS," was the definite answer to his request.
Perhaps feeling the pressure to appear more manly to his superiors, the soldier in question then came up with a very different reason for his leave application.
"Going home to the Appalachian mountains to drink whiskey, wrestle bears, and shoot lots of guns. I also plan to grow out a beard, chop down a hundred trees with my axes and eat 10lb of thick cut bacon with my wife, who I plan to have lots of unprotected sex with, because I am a man and that's just what we do. Football."
It's unknown if his reworked application was successful, but the Reddit post has attracted more than 3700 comments.
While many doubt the authenticity of the note, everyone seems to have an opinion on the benefits or otherwise of men attending baby showers.
"I was just fine with strict gender segregation at baby showers because, man, baby showers are lame," wrote one man
"As a married man, one of the things I hate most are both-gender baby showers," said another.
One Redditer told how he once attended a "baby BBQ", joking he was surprised by the "lack of BBQ'd baby".
Some women joined in and revealed even they don't enjoy going to baby showers.
"Even if I'm carrying the baby, I don't want the shower," wrote on female Redditor.
Not all the baby shower talk was negative: one man saw the female dominated events as the perfect place to meet a future partner.
"Being a single male attending a baby shower is a pretty good deal, especially since there's usually not many guys, and yet there's always a few single girls who now have a relationship right at the front of their mind," he pointed out.
But the majority of men were less keen.
"I like babies like I like golf. They're great in person and I enjoy participating and interacting with them. But sitting around talking about them and hearing conflicting advice on the best way to manage them - particularly from people who suck at it - is torture," one man summed up.