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If you're sure that your family will be incomplete until little Madison has a brother or young Milo gets a sister, you're in luck: Today's Observer reports on the newest trend in reproductive treatment: "elective gender selection." Like most things loathsome, it's happening on the Upper East Side, and the clients are exactly who you think they might be ("Many of them are attorneys.") As with all incipient trend stories, there are the inevitable message board quotes, and the horrific inevitable that make you question your basic humanity. We were particularly struck by this one, from a woman who wants to have a girl:

For Joy, another MicroSort Mom, it all came down to her relationship with her own mom. "I was very close with her, and then she passed away. So most of the people who know me are like, 'You're completely trying to replace the relationship with your mother,'" she said. "And maybe they're right—but I have the money, so I'm going to do it."

Are Upper East Siders born that way or made that way? Clearly, the answer is now "Both."

Brave New Boutique: Baby Sex Selection Sold On East Side [NYO]