The surrogacy debate is one of those things where I think leftists and feminists across the world don’t realize how far apart they are. Over here it’s a very mainstream left-wing, feminist position to agree with the Pope on that one. Hardcore feminists, and increasingly moderates as well will refer to surrogacy as “human trafficking” and have been lobbying to illegalize it outright for a while.
I’m not super aware of the mainstream stance among feminism in the US, but from the comments here I’m gonna say… not that?
From the US: I’m over 30 and this is the first time I’ve heard surrogacy referred to as human trafficking. And now I need to sit and think.
It’s always felt a little bit creepy to me, but I’ve also never wanted kids and the idea of pregnancy for any reason would be traumatic. So I’m starting out heavily biased. I think if you take the money out, it no longer counts…?
But the idea would be so out of left field that it would mostly be dismissed out of hand, probably even by most women.
I’m curious, where’s “over here” for you? I’m not super involved in politics here in the US, but I don’t think surrogacy is really talked about much here? There’s the people who vehemently oppose it (from my experience that’s mostly the religious right), but almost any interaction I’ve had discussing it just lists it as an option people can consider.
I should mention that I’m Bi and don’t have a kid, so I mostly hear about it from the context of same sex couples.
Look, if I wanted to say that I’d have just come out and said it. You could probably figure it out by digging through my replies and mentions, but… that’d be kinda rude?
We can leave it at “not in the US”, maybe?
In any case, it is interesting how that divide has not made it over. Along with the different positions on sex work it seems like one of the most notorious differences in position within feminism (TERFs exempted because I don’t think they count at all in the first place).
I think we all have a tendency to try to paper over these regional differences to present a unified front, but these are significant differences in perspective.
And for the record, I know plenty of same sex couples here that will tell you outright that having babies is not a right and you don’t get to pay for a woman’s body under any circumstances. Like you, I feel like I don’t have a horse in the race, so I abstain from opining in any direction on this one. You need at least one more uterus than I’m rocking to get a vote on this one.
But I can still notice the difference of opinion and how little it’s mentioned.
Extremely difficult. Courts have essentially ruled that adoption agencies can turn down whoever they want based on their religious views, and not just queer people, this was a case over a Jewish couple trying to adopt from a Christian agency because that was the only one available in their area. And, of course, that’s true in a lot of places. All the adoption agencies are Christian and will only let other Christians adopt.
Which is pretty fucking ironic considering they kept saying adoption was an alternative to abortion.
The surrogacy debate is one of those things where I think leftists and feminists across the world don’t realize how far apart they are. Over here it’s a very mainstream left-wing, feminist position to agree with the Pope on that one. Hardcore feminists, and increasingly moderates as well will refer to surrogacy as “human trafficking” and have been lobbying to illegalize it outright for a while.
I’m not super aware of the mainstream stance among feminism in the US, but from the comments here I’m gonna say… not that?
From the US: I’m over 30 and this is the first time I’ve heard surrogacy referred to as human trafficking. And now I need to sit and think.
It’s always felt a little bit creepy to me, but I’ve also never wanted kids and the idea of pregnancy for any reason would be traumatic. So I’m starting out heavily biased. I think if you take the money out, it no longer counts…?
But the idea would be so out of left field that it would mostly be dismissed out of hand, probably even by most women.
I’m curious, where’s “over here” for you? I’m not super involved in politics here in the US, but I don’t think surrogacy is really talked about much here? There’s the people who vehemently oppose it (from my experience that’s mostly the religious right), but almost any interaction I’ve had discussing it just lists it as an option people can consider.
I should mention that I’m Bi and don’t have a kid, so I mostly hear about it from the context of same sex couples.
I get the feeling this person is probably talking about commercial surrogacy from a European perspective.
Look, if I wanted to say that I’d have just come out and said it. You could probably figure it out by digging through my replies and mentions, but… that’d be kinda rude?
We can leave it at “not in the US”, maybe?
In any case, it is interesting how that divide has not made it over. Along with the different positions on sex work it seems like one of the most notorious differences in position within feminism (TERFs exempted because I don’t think they count at all in the first place).
I think we all have a tendency to try to paper over these regional differences to present a unified front, but these are significant differences in perspective.
And for the record, I know plenty of same sex couples here that will tell you outright that having babies is not a right and you don’t get to pay for a woman’s body under any circumstances. Like you, I feel like I don’t have a horse in the race, so I abstain from opining in any direction on this one. You need at least one more uterus than I’m rocking to get a vote on this one.
But I can still notice the difference of opinion and how little it’s mentioned.
I guess not. I’m also guessing it’s a lot easier for same-gendered couples to adopt in your country. It’s not easy at all in the U.S.
I don’t know, I’ve never tried. The one person I know who did adopted abroad, so I’m gonna guess not super easy?
Extremely difficult. Courts have essentially ruled that adoption agencies can turn down whoever they want based on their religious views, and not just queer people, this was a case over a Jewish couple trying to adopt from a Christian agency because that was the only one available in their area. And, of course, that’s true in a lot of places. All the adoption agencies are Christian and will only let other Christians adopt.
Which is pretty fucking ironic considering they kept saying adoption was an alternative to abortion.