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"At Least I Am Not Sleeping with Anyone": Resisting the Stigma of Commercial Surrogacy in India
... Thus, the study focused on the group of women of the appropriate age for reproduction and the application of IVF techniques-an essential technique in surrogacy (Phillips et al., 2019). The selection of such study subjects also creates a similarity to the group of women who have appeared in surrogacy studies in many other countries (Attawet, 2021;Pande, 2010), which makes the comparison process more favorable. ...
... The rural women have long become the center subject of surrogacy research in India (Jaiswal, 2012;Pande, 2010), which prompted a similar study in rural areas of Vietnam. A random survey of 200 Kinh and ethnic minority women living in the Iaphin Commune, Chu Prong District, Gia Lai Province, Vietnam, was conducted in August 2020. ...
... The majority of needy and low-caste women are said to be inclined to participate in surrogacy, regardless of whether the work, according to social prejudice, is unclean (Varada, 2014). Honor or respect does not help if their families are starving (Pande, 2010). Moreover, even without doing this work, belonging to the low caste itself makes the women feel stigmatized (Gopal, 2012;Verma et al., 2018). ...
... Pande's definition of sexualized care work as "a new type of reproductive labor … similar to existing forms of care work but [one that] is stigmatized in the public imagination, among other reasons, because of its parallel with sex work" offers greater insight into the stigma around surrogacy and reveals the tension between the rights associated with sexual citizenship and economic rights for those engaged in reproductive labor. 29 This definition is consistent with Sophie Lewis's observation of a pervasive "whore stigma" shaping the social perception of surrogates' work in the global economy. 30 Human rights scholars have noted that barriers to sexual and reproductive rights have been largely shaped by stigma and that less stigmatized care work is slightly less contested within international standards around interdependent economic and reproductive rights, such as paid family leave and expanded social security benefits. ...
... One example is the 2011 Convention No. 189 Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers, put forth by the International Labour Organization. 45 Having an international treaty that explicitly outlines the V O L U M E 2 5 N U M B E R 2 l. danielowski / general papers, [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] Health and Human Rights Journal HHr al_logo_alone.indd 1 10/19/15 10:53 AM HHR_fina rights of domestic workers globally has given local movements a concrete legal and policy framework through which to frame local struggles for ensuring the economic and social rights of domestic workers. 46 Similarly, the strategic use of conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) at the local level has been meaningful in addressing barriers to claiming gender-based rights. ...
... As scholar Amrita Pande notes, l. danielowski / general papers,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] Health and Human Rights Journal ...
In 2022, the global commercial surrogacy industry was valued at approximately US$14 billion. This paper explores the issue of surrogacy to reveal how international human rights standards and labor laws treat reproduction as work, building on previous scholarship analyzing similar framing at the grassroots level in Mexico. I argue that the failure to recognize surrogacy as labor is rooted in three lacunae: (1) contemporary policies and practices around surrogacy globally pay little attention to the well-being and rights fulfillment of surrogates themselves, particularly the economic rights of surrogates; (2) the stigma of surrogacy as sexualized care work results in neglect of the labor rights of surrogates in mainstream economic rights discourses; and (3) relevant international rights law has not yet addressed the economic rights of surrogates, nor has it effectively articulated the interdependent relationship between economic rights and reproductive rights. Lastly, I discuss where reproductive rights and economic rights overlap in existing human rights conventions and standards and what possibilities these offer for articulating the interdependence of reproductive and economic rights and for advancing the labor rights of surrogates.
... With the expansion of the transnational surrogacy market in the mid-2000s and India becoming the surrogacy hub of the world, ethnographic research on transnational surrogacy also developed. The majority of the research has focused on India (Pande 2014b;Vora 2009;Majumdar 2017;Rudrappa 2015;Deomampo 2016), although other national contexts have been investigated: Thailand (Hibino and Shimazono 2013;Whittaker 2014;Nilsson 2015;, Mexico (Schurr 2018;, and Russia (Weis 2017;Siegl 2018). ...
... Sociologist Amrita Pande (2009a;2009b;2010a;2010b;, one of the most prominent scholars on Indian surrogacy, conducted an in-depth study based on long-term fieldwork at a surrogacy clinic and surrogacy hostel in Anand in 2006. In her analysis of surrogate mothers' complex situations, Pande criticises the ways feminist scholars tend to "invoke victimhood when the bodies of Third World women are their focus" (2010a, 293). ...
... Sociologist Amrita Pande (2009a;2009b;2010a;2010b;, one of the most prominent scholars on Indian surrogacy, conducted an in-depth study based on long-term fieldwork at a surrogacy clinic and surrogacy hostel in Anand in 2006. In her analysis of surrogate mothers' complex situations, Pande criticises the ways feminist scholars tend to "invoke victimhood when the bodies of Third World women are their focus" (2010a, 293). ...
Transnational commercial surrogacy is an arrangement where a woman gestates and delivers a child for intended parents from another country in exchange for money. This thesis explores the experiences of women who have acted as surrogate mothers in Thailand. Based on in-depth interviews with twelve former surrogate mothers, the thesis analyses their accounts in relation to gendered, local, and global dimensions of transnational commercial surrogacy. More specifically, it investigates how surrogacy has affected the women materially, socially, and personally; how they understand and negotiate family, kinship, and relationships in connection with their surrogacy experiences; but also how the global surrogacy market and local context interact in shaping the conditions for surrogacy in Thailand. The thesis engages in dialogue with research on commercial surrogacy in other settings, and draws upon theoretical frameworks of gender, motherhood and kinship, local moral economies, and precarious intimate labour. The analysis explores, first, how the women’s decisions to undertake surrogacy, and, for some, further involvement in surrogacy are enabled through women’s social networks and family relationships. Second, it investigates how, through the framing of surrogacy as primarily an opportunity to earn money for their own family but also as an act of making merit, the women draw upon material and religious rationalities as well as gender ideals that allow them to live up to their obligations as mothers and daughters. Third, it explores how their trajectories are marked by im/mobility and flexibility, taking shape in relation to the global reproductive market as well as local and national conditions. Finally, it demonstrates how the women use strategies of de/kinning that both align with and resist the idea that the surrogate mother is not related to the child. The results highlight the precariousness of these women’s labour and how surrogacy stretches into their lives beyond the nine months of pregnancy. Results also focus the women’s own decision-making and negotiations within the context of constrained but real agency. This thesis contributes knowledge about the situation of surrogate mothers post-pregnancy, and also in a context where surrogacy is illegal. It also contributes to the research fields of transnational reproduction, gendered and global division of intimate labour and feminist discussions on motherhood.
... In section 2, I will refer to commercial surrogacy as a global phenomenon and detail some of its main actors' functions in these agreements. In section 3, I will address the importance of moral frames in commercial surrogacy agreements by analysing some prominent narratives intended to make the practice socially acceptable (Ragoné, 1996;Pande, 2010;Teman, 2010;Rudrappa and Collins, 2015;Smietana, 2017). Such narratives include the parties' conceptions about kinship and the adequate bases to establish parenthood (see Strathern 1992;Ragoné, 1996;Teman, 2003Teman, , 2010Thompson, 2005;Berend, 2016;Jacobson, 2016). ...
... Given its surging popularity in different countries, the practice's social and political implications have attracted the attention of academics. In India, critics have referred to the role of race, class, and gender in the industry's functioning (Rudrappa and Collins, 2015;Limki, 2018), as well as to common cultural stereotypes that stigmatise Indian surrogates (Pande, 2010). The idea of stigmatisation, stemming from traditional conceptions about reproduction and the family, has also been analysed in U.S. ethnographies, especially in what concerns its impact on surrogates' discourses about their decision to gestate someone else's child (see Jacobson, 2016). ...
... In some contexts, like India, it is common for ethnographic researchers to refer to the surrogate as the "surrogate mother" or the "birthing mother" (seePande, 2010;Rudrappa and Collins, 2015;Rudrappa 2016). Yet, as highlighted by an anonymous reviewer, that nomenclature does not fit the surrogates' common descriptions of their experience in contexts like the United States, where they try to justify their decision to enter a surrogacy agreement by emphasising that they are not the mother of the child they carry (seeJacobson, 2016, p. 68). ...
Commercial surrogacy has become an increasingly popular path to parenthood around the world. Yet, critics have raised concerns about the practice’s implications for gender inequality. This paper critically assesses commercial surrogacy’s reliance on, and reinforcement of, common narratives about women’s natural disposition to sacrifice themselves for others. These narratives have historically served to justify disadvantages for women as workers, both within and outside the household. Their presence in commercial surrogacy agreements suggests that, even if we can characterise commercial surrogacy as an alternative (as opposed to traditional) method for family formation, the same social stereotypes that have historically entrenched women’s inequality in traditional families are still highly relevant for the practice’s functioning.
... Indians equate surrogacy with sex work. [31][32][33]50] This is partly due to a lack of information-people are not aware of the reproductive technology which separates pregnancy from sexual intercourse. SMs were perceived by others to be involved in 'dirty work' to refer to tasks and occupations that are likely to be perceived as degrading. ...
... SMs were perceived by others to be involved in 'dirty work' to refer to tasks and occupations that are likely to be perceived as degrading. [50] Researchers reveal that the narratives of Indian surrogates involved in Commercial Surrogacy. [39,43,48,50] These show that they suffered various psychological conflicts: ...
... [50] Researchers reveal that the narratives of Indian surrogates involved in Commercial Surrogacy. [39,43,48,50] These show that they suffered various psychological conflicts: ...
Surrogates are described in literature as true angels “who make dreams happen.”
On the other hand, surrogacy has also been surrounded by several psychosocial
controversies. In this review, we have made an attempt to encapsulate this topic
from the multiple perspectives of individuals who are involved in the surrogacy
cycle. We present to the readers the various outlooks and dilemmas of the
clinicians, patient parties contracting for surrogacy, the child born out of surrogacy,
and the intricate role of the mental health professionals in surrogacy arrangements.
The review also throws light upon the psychosocial issues in connection to the
evolving Surrogacy practices in Indian and in the Western world.
... Indians equate surrogacy with sex work. [31][32][33]50] This is partly due to a lack of information-people are not aware of the reproductive technology which separates pregnancy from sexual intercourse. SMs were perceived by others to be involved in 'dirty work' to refer to tasks and occupations that are likely to be perceived as degrading. ...
... SMs were perceived by others to be involved in 'dirty work' to refer to tasks and occupations that are likely to be perceived as degrading. [50] Researchers reveal that the narratives of Indian surrogates involved in Commercial Surrogacy. [39,43,48,50] These show that they suffered various psychological conflicts: ...
... [50] Researchers reveal that the narratives of Indian surrogates involved in Commercial Surrogacy. [39,43,48,50] These show that they suffered various psychological conflicts: ...
Surrogates are described in literature as true angels "who make dreams happen." On the other hand, surrogacy has also been surrounded by several psychosocial controversies. In this review, we have made an attempt to encapsulate this topic from the multiple perspectives of individuals who are involved in the surrogacy cycle. We present to the readers the various outlooks and dilemmas of the clinicians, patient parties contracting for surrogacy, the child born out of surrogacy, and the intricate role of the mental health professionals in surrogacy arrangements. The review also throws light upon the psychosocial issues in connection to the evolving Surrogacy practices in Indian and in the Western world.
... On the other hand, ethical feminist scholarship opposes surrogacy and positions it as a form of commodification and exploitation of the female body. (Pande, 2010a(Pande, , 2010bVora, 2009;Saravanan, 2010). Feminist scholars are increasingly engaging with theories of reproduction as they argue that it "plays a central role in the extension and maintenance of the biopolitical management of life, at least through the history of eugenics as well as in contemporary phenomena such as prenatal testing and surrogacy" (Mills, 2018, p. 154). ...
... 152-153). The ethnographic studies of surrogates (Pande, 2010a(Pande, , 2010bVora, 2009;Saravanan, 2010;Majumdar, 2013) from the transnational perspective have highlighted how the outsourcing of womb has become attainable due to the globalisation of surrogacy that garnered wide media attention and led to an increase in the international clientele. The following sections examine Amulya Malladi's A House for Happy Mothers (2016) to establish how the neoliberal intended parents endorse and appropriate genetic essentialism for kinship relationships and become agents of new reproductive subjectivities. ...
... Particularmente, los estudios de opinión hacia comportamientos familiares han servido de brújula para anticipar cambios sociales más profundos (ibid.: 91). El estudio de la GS a través de la opinión pública -al ser la más polémica de todas las opciones de reproducción con colaboración (Weiss, 1992: 16) y una práctica emergente de concepción «complicada y fragmentada» (Akker, 2017: 6)-es un campo rico para el análisis sociológico pues subvierte algunos de los pilares que en Occidente sostienen las ideologías hegemónicas de la maternidad, la paternidad y de la propia institución familiar, convirtiendo estos hechos sociales en procesos de elecciones múltiples en lugar de destino (Akker, 2001;Pande, 2010;Teman, 2003). ...
... Specifically, opinion studies on family behaviors have served as a compass to anticipate the most intense social changes (ibid.: 91). The study on SG based on public opinion, the most polemic of the collaborative reproduction options (Weiss, 1992: 16) and a "complex and fragmented" emerging conception practice (Akker, 2017: 6), is a rich field for sociological analysis since it subverts some of the pillars sustained by dominant Western ideologies on maternity, paternity and the family institution, turning these social acts into processes of multiple selection, as opposed to destinations (Akker, 2001;Pande, 2010;Teman, 2003). ...
Presentamos la encuesta «Opinión y actitud de la población española frente a la adopción, el acogimiento y la gestación por sustitución» el primer estudio que a través de una muestra representativa (n = 3752) explora los factores sociológicos que determinan la opinión y actitud de la sociedad española frente a la gestación por sustitución (GS), una técnica de reproducción asistida socialmente controvertida. Los resultados muestran que el 58 % de la población considera que en España se debería aprobar una ley regulatoria y el 53 % la aceptaría para sí mismo en el caso de vivir la experiencia de la infertilidad. El colectivo homosexual, en relación al heterosexual, tendría un 280 % y un 270 % más de probabilidades de, respectivamente, aceptar para sí mismo la GS y estar a favor de una ley específica.
... There was a pause before Doctor Swati said, "Well, she isn't happy about leaving her family, but it's for a short time, and she will be in the company of several other women like her" (Malladi, 2016, p. 108). This constant control over women's bodies performed by the medical staff gives a vivid picture of the functioning of bio-power over both the surrogate and her body (Mohapatra, 2012;Pande, 2010a). Keeping the surrogate away from her family and children is done to enhance reproductive performance and to achieve a successful pregnancy with a healthy baby. ...
... According to Jyotsna A. Gupta, 'one's privilege in the world system is always linked to another woman's oppression or exploitation' (Gupta, 2006, p. 34). The moral dilemmas of the surrogates, their compulsion depicted as 'majboori' lead to the deep injustices, revealing the shoddy reality and it is at this point that our debates regarding surrogacy within the realm of reproductive justice should begin (Pande, 2010a). Even Asha, a first-time surrogate, readily agrees to carry an alien pregnancy in exchange for her son's bright future. ...
India is rapidly establishing itself as the world’s baby factory, with couples from both wealthy and impoverished countries flocking there to make specific reproductive decisions through accessible surrogates. These changes in medical technology have reinforced and normalized the concept of ‘wombs for rent’, converting the body of the Third world woman into an active site of reproductive exploitation and providing for the creation of a new kind of eugenics. This article is a critical intervention into surrogacy as an explicit manifestation of stratified reproduction through Amulya Malladi’s A House for Happy Mothers (2016). It also examines the bioeconomic and bioethical assumptions behind exploitative surrogacy practises based on systemic and structural disparities in India and proposes a Reproductive Justice framework to evaluate commercial surrogacy The essay claims that, while surrogacy is often considered to be free of compulsion and violence and classified as ‘subjective free choice’, it is financially driven, posing major questions regarding autonomy. The essay closes by analysing surrogates’ commercialization and dehumanization, as their wombs are viewed as ‘passive incubators’ and ‘prosthetics’, violently distanced from the baby.
... On the other hand, ethical feminist scholarship opposes surrogacy and positions it as a form of commodification and exploitation of the female body. (Pande, 2010a(Pande, , 2010bVora, 2009;Saravanan, 2010). Feminist scholars are increasingly engaging with theories of reproduction as they argue that it "plays a central role in the extension and maintenance of the biopolitical management of life, at least through the history of eugenics as well as in contemporary phenomena such as prenatal testing and surrogacy" (Mills, 2018, p. 154). ...
... 152-153). The ethnographic studies of surrogates (Pande, 2010a(Pande, , 2010bVora, 2009;Saravanan, 2010;Majumdar, 2013) from the transnational perspective have highlighted how the outsourcing of womb has become attainable due to the globalisation of surrogacy that garnered wide media attention and led to an increase in the international clientele. The following sections examine Amulya Malladi's A House for Happy Mothers (2016) to establish how the neoliberal intended parents endorse and appropriate genetic essentialism for kinship relationships and become agents of new reproductive subjectivities. ...
... Sobre este efecto en el contexto de la India, véasePande, A. (2010), «"At Least I Am Not Sleeping with Anyone": Resisting the Stigma of Commercial Surrogacy inIndia», Feminist Studies, vol. 36, núm. ...
¿Dónde, cuándo, cómo, queer?
Organizados en tres secciones que dialogan mientras se alejan entre sí, en espiral, los ensayos aquí reunidos cubren un arco temporal que se remonta a los orígenes de los estudios queer, durante los primeros años de la crisis del VIH, y alcanza a la pandemia de Covid-19.
El resultado es un libro concebido como un viaje entre pandemias, durante el cual la propia noción de estudios queer se ve afectada, desbordada y, en última instancia, deslocalizada, en su relación con un heterogéneo conjunto de frentes críticos.
Quien busque en él la famosa “agenda queer”, no la encontrará.
En su lugar, encontrarán motivos para la reflexión crítica quienes, ante los excesos del dogmatismo, prefieran optar por el valor transformador del disenso.
... But it would be a mistake to suggest that they and we are disconnected in our day-to-day lives. Some surrogates in the Global South, for instance, note disparities between them and intended parents in the Global North (Pande, 2010b). 31 These inequalities emerge from particular colonial histories, from which those in the Global North benefit. ...
Multidimensional” accounts of autonomy offer multiple, rather than unitary, dimensions along which to measure autonomy. Such accounts are significant developments in the literature and help generate nuanced, degree-based frameworks. However, transnational feminists—those theorizing feminism in light of (post)colonialism and global neoliberalism—may raise concerns about multidimensional accounts for women in the Global South. For instance, there may be worries about the generalized focus and implicit individualism that still lurks. Sympathetic to both non-unitary autonomy and transnational feminist projects, I argue that multidimensional accounts can be salvaged from such critiques with two amendments. First, they can adopt what I label a “critical” relational framing, and second, they can include intersectional identities. Using commercial surrogates in India as an example, I show how these amendments to multidimensional theories might better serve these women of color, and indeed all persons.
... The frequent use of ARTs and surrogacy arrangements by Bollywood celebrities in India reinforces the complexities of inequality and class differences in the lives of impoverished Indian women who engage in the surrogacy industry. Building on the ethnographic work of Deomampo (2013), Rudrappa (2015) and Pande (2010a), who have broadly discussed the structural and social constraints of the Indian surrogates, the article speculates that the intraclass social divisions between celebrities and their service providers are amplified through the functioning of the surrogacy industry. Deomampo (2013: 169) argues that 'gestational surrogacy in India necessarily relies on the reproductive labor and bodies of a variety of individuals that … increases the intraclass social divisions among surrogates and surrogate agents'. ...
The article makes a biopolitical study of commercial surrogacy in India through the case studies of Bollywood celebrities prioritizing bioengineered babies through surrogacy. Drawing upon the theories of the culture industry and neoliberal subjectivity, the entanglement between the cultural economy of celebrity and the medico-industrial complex is decoded. The study attempts to focus on the existing popular public discourse using newspaper articles, tabloid press, interviews, and journal articles to investigate how Bollywood celebrities, as bioconsumers in the neoliberal surrogacy market, further genetic essentialism and neoliberal eugenics. Celebrities, as agents of new reproductive subjectivities, invite critical forays into bioeconomies of intensity, intimate life and belongings through the affective bonds of familial ties and kinship. Examining the moral economy of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in India, the study highlights the exploitative use of the reproductive labour of surrogates, who are treated as effaced entities and as collateral ‘prosthetics’ in the ART industry.
... These transformations have been accompanied by various social contingencies. Feminist analyses of transnational surrogacy have focused on questions of women's reproductive labor (Huber et al. 2018;Pande 2014), women's rights over their own bodies (Gupta 2006;Pande 2010), and the exploitation of disadvantaged surrogate women in the global south (Deomampo 2013;Pande 2015;Rudrappa 2015;Rudrappa and Collins 2015). Feminist scholarship has also shown how the development of the transnational surrogacy industry in the last two decades is implicated with an emerging biopolitics of reproduction integral to contemporary economies (Waldby and Cooper 2008). ...
This article centers on ‘forced surrogacy,’ an underexplored collateral of the erstwhile transnational surrogacy industry in India, to critically analyze recent policy developments around surrogacy regulation in India. Building upon Dalit feminist perspectives, in this article, I argue that ‘forced surrogacy’ is an indentured form of clinical labor performed through the bodies of subaltern women inhabiting the margins of the Indian polity. Analyzing recent media discourses on ‘forced surrogacy’ in conjunction with reproductive legislations formulated between 2005 and 2021, I demonstrate how an indigenous standpoint perspective usefully complicates theorizing about clinical labor highlighting a continuum between caste-based indentured labor and contemporary clinical labor in India. The analysis investigates the necropolitical dimensions of India’s recent policy directive to ban ‘commercial’ surrogacy while condoning ‘altruistic’ surrogacy. Such a criminalization absolves the State of accountability for circumstances that enable ‘forced surrogacy’ outside the limits of both the traditional family and the ‘free’ market. The article concludes with a discussion on how indentured clinical labor reveals the limits of existing normative frameworks that overlook structural realities in governing clinical market regimes, and how these limits in turn become the basis for the extraction of unfree clinical labor from subaltern bodies.
... For example, Dr. Nayna Patel, head of the Akanksha IVF clinic in Anand, Gujarat, who is known for running a large surrogacy house, opposed the bill and gathered surrogate mothers to protest against it (Bedi 2016). It was argued that the commercial surrogacy ban would deprive working-class women and their families of substantial income streams (Arvidsoon et al. 2017;Pande 2013). Dr. Patel claimed that only 25 out of every 1000 surrogacy cases she handled involved close relatives as surrogate mothers. ...
Surrogacy tourism in Asian countries has surged in recent decades due to affordable prices and favourable regulations. Although it has recently been banned in many countries, it is still carried out illegally across borders. With demand for surrogacy in developed countries increasing and economically vulnerable Asian women lured by lucrative compensation, there are efforts by guest countries to ease the strict surrogacy regulations in host countries. Despite a shift toward “altruistic surrogacy”, commercial surrogacy persists. Recent research carried out by international organizations that seek to establish a legal relationship between the commissioning parents and children in cross-border surrogacy arrangements, under the guise of the “best interests of the child,” appears to promote a resurgence of overseas commercial surrogacy rather than restrict it. Further commercialization of surrogacy should be prevented by carefully investigating the reality of the surrogacy process.
... Tidligere forskning har undersøkt hvordan stempling og stigmatiserende merkelapper kan bli en selvoppfyllende profeti (Merton, 1948), og hvordan enkeltpersoner har ulike psykologiske håndteringsstrategier for å leve med stigma (Puhl & Brownell, 2006). Det er imidlertid begrenset forskning om hvordan stigmatiserte mennesker yter aktiv motstand mot stigma (men se Pande, 2010;. Vår studie beskriver hvordan muslimske ungdommer utøver slik «hverdagsmotstand» (Scott, 1985) mot stigmaet knyttet til det å vaere muslim i Norge. ...
Throughout the 1950s, as psychology, sociology and criminology developed as academic disciplines in Norway, researchers within these disciplines began publishing scattered reports on youth. In the 1970s and ‘80s, The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (the so-called Birmingham school) became a global inspiration for youth researchers. In Norway, the Centre’s studies on e.g. style and resistance in particular were replicated by qualitative youth researchers. However, the establishment of UNGforsk in 1991 fundamentally changed the youth research milieu in Norway. Over the course of a few years, a group of 15–20 researchers developed a secure base and continued to publish studies based on qualitative interviews and fieldwork. However, the defining features of the milieu were representative surveys of youth in numerous local communities and a large and national representative longitudinal study – Young in Norway. The participants in this study are now in their mid-40s and are still followed up in surveys and register data. UNGforsk gradually became part of the Norwegian Social Research (NOVA) institute at Oslo Metropolitan University. After 30 years, the youth research section still remains the key youth research institution in Norway. A rich and solid infrastructure of regular national surveys (UNGDATA), annual conferences and a Nordic youth research journal has developed through the institute. Its research is continually cited in mainstream Norwegian media, and the researchers regularly take part in expert groups developing Norwegian youth policy.
... Tidligere forskning har undersøkt hvordan stempling og stigmatiserende merkelapper kan bli en selvoppfyllende profeti (Merton, 1948), og hvordan enkeltpersoner har ulike psykologiske håndteringsstrategier for å leve med stigma (Puhl & Brownell, 2006). Det er imidlertid begrenset forskning om hvordan stigmatiserte mennesker yter aktiv motstand mot stigma (men se Pande, 2010;Rosten, 2015). Vår studie beskriver hvordan muslimske ungdommer utøver slik «hverdagsmotstand» (Scott, 1985) mot stigmaet knyttet til det å vaere muslim i Norge. ...
Research has revealed widespread anti-Muslim sentiment in Norway.
Little knowledge exists, however, on the types of anti-Muslim hostility that Muslims
experience and how they react to it. Based on interviews with 90 young Norwegian
Muslims, we describe widespread forms of anti-Muslim hostility and discuss
the strategies that Muslims use in response to stigma and prejudice. The forms of
hostility that these Muslim youths most frequently described, and which they said
affected them most in their daily lives, were those expressed during face-to-face
encounters. The ways in which the young Muslims dealt with hostility demonstrate
that they are far from passive victims. Rather, they actively engaged in attempts
to reduce the impact of hostility and to challenge prejudices against Islam and
Muslims through various forms of everyday resistance. We argue that these ways of
responding to anti-Muslim sentiment can be perceived as a repertoire of everyday
resistance, that is, a set of ways to resist hostility that are relatively well-known and
regularly employed by Muslims both in our study – and beyond.
... In this study, we combine sociological studies of everyday life (Kalekin-Fishman 2013) with that of everyday resistance (Pande 2010) to examine the ways in which young Muslims resist anti-Muslim hostility. Approaching such reactions as resistance means situating them in relation to power. ...
Research has shown widespread discrimination and hostility
toward Muslims in Western countries. There is less knowledge of
how Muslims resist, oppose, or challenge such behaviour. Based
on in-depth interviews with 90 young Muslims in Norway, this
study explores responses to anti-Muslim hostility. We describe a
repertoire of everyday resistance: talking back, entering dialogue,
living the example, denying significance, and talking down. The
first three forms occur in face-to-face encounters while the latter
two are retrospect sense-making of negative experiences. We
conceptualise these responses as everyday resistance because
they entail ways of actively countering anti-Muslim hostility, as
opposed to passively accepting or adapting to it. This repertoire
of everyday resistance can make it easier to avoid victimisation,
protect religious identities, and ease the daily lives of young
Muslims. Increased attention to narrative resistance in studies of
everyday resistance will provide a better understanding of the
many ways in which marginalised groups cope, resist, and
struggle with their stigma.
... The vast sums of money in the surrogacy market make surrogacy a tempting option for many marginalized potential surrogate mothers. Pande's (2009;2010a;2010b) research with surrogates revealed that about 95 percent of them were from the surrounding villages of Anande, a city in India, and about 89 percent of them were living below the poverty line. ...
Purpose
There is abundant research on surrogacy; however, migration scholars have not addressed surrogacy-driven migration. Policies related to surrogacy and surrogacy-led migration are under-researched. The paper argues that surrogacy-led migration or fertility/reproductive migration constitutes a significant part of mainstream migration. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the policy dilemmas in various countries.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 9 surrogate mothers (4 from India; 2 from Thailand, 2 from Indonesia and 1 from Nepal) and 8 commissioning parents (2 from Japan; 4 from Europe; 1 from the USA; 1 from Australia) and 2 doctors (1 from India and 1 from Thailand) selected on snowball basis were interviewed between 2014 and 2016 by using a checklist.
Findings
The deficiency and inconsistency of laws regarding surrogacy facilitated the growth of the surrogacy market. Therefore, a uniform policy would help to define and improve the surrogacy and surrogacy-led migration management.
Originality/value
This paper demonstrates the interplay of surrogacy and mainstream migration. This is a fresh addition to the study of migration.
Surrogacy is the commissioning of a woman to gestate and give birth to a child for another would-be parent. The practice raises several ethical questions concerning, for example, the commodification of both surrogate and baby and the exploitation of the surrogate, issues which have been extensively debated. This book offers a fresh take on two different questions that bear on surrogacy’s justifiability: Is providing gestational services a permissible way of employing a woman’s body—is it a legitimate form of work? And are children born out of surrogacy wronged by surrogacy agreements? Christine Straehle proposes that surrogacy is legitimate work—a way for women to realize certain goals through the fruit of their labour. She defends a right to become a surrogate as necessary to protect women’s autonomy. Anca Gheaus argues that surrogacy always wrongs children—whether or not it also harms them—by disrespecting them; gestational services are therefore impermissible. In her response to Gheaus, Straehle questions that surrogacy wrongs children; besides a genetic, she also defends aintentional model of parental rights, which indicates that having a child through surrogacy should count as a ground to assign parental rights. In her response, Gheaus objects that Straehle’s view fails to properly account for the interests of either surrogates or children. However, Gheaus accepts that women may gestate without the intention to have custody over the newborn, and is therefore open to some kind of post-surrogacy practice that, in the allocation of legal parenthood, would radically depart from any historical or currently proposed form of surrogacy.
Surrogacy is the commissioning of a woman to gestate and give birth to a child for another would-be parent. The practice raises several ethical questions concerning, for example, the commodification of both surrogate and baby and the exploitation of the surrogate, issues which have been extensively debated. This book offers a fresh take on two different questions that bear on surrogacy’s justifiability: Is providing gestational services a permissible way of employing a woman’s body—is it a legitimate form of work? And are children born out of surrogacy wronged by surrogacy agreements? Christine Straehle proposes that surrogacy is legitimate work—a way for women to realize certain goals through the fruit of their labour. She defends a right to become a surrogate as necessary to protect women’s autonomy. Anca Gheaus argues that surrogacy always wrongs children—whether or not it also harms them—by disrespecting them; gestational services are therefore impermissible. In her response to Gheaus, Straehle questions that surrogacy wrongs children; besides a genetic, she also defends aintentional model of parental rights, which indicates that having a child through surrogacy should count as a ground to assign parental rights. In her response, Gheaus objects that Straehle’s view fails to properly account for the interests of either surrogates or children. However, Gheaus accepts that women may gestate without the intention to have custody over the newborn, and is therefore open to some kind of post-surrogacy practice that, in the allocation of legal parenthood, would radically depart from any historical or currently proposed form of surrogacy.
Women paid domestic workers (PDWs) form an integral part of the informal labour population constituting two thirds of the total domestic workforce in contemporary India. The sector of domestic work is largely stigmatized and is often synonymous with low occupational prestige, servitude and being ‘dirty’ and menial. Thus, women PDWs are often exposed to unpleasant working conditions in their employers’ homes as well as social surroundings. Further, many of these women are also victims of domestic violence (DV) in their own homes. This study shares the lived experiences of work-employer relationships, hostile work conditions and DV through the lenses of women PDWs’ narratives. The article also chronicles the women’s hardships, suggesting the exploitative nature of domestic work and how it exposes women PDWs to additional adversities in the form of discrimination and harassment in employers’ homes and DV within their own domestic setting. It concludes by showing a pattern of survival among these women who endure countless challenges within both the workplace and home and employ coping strategies to navigate hostile domestic environments. The findings offer crucial insights into the limits and capacities of women PDWs’ struggles.
When an individual is unable or unwilling to become a parent the natural way, he/she can avail of a surrogate mother. Furthermore, when the surrogate pregnancy takes place in a foreign country, the practice is popularly referred to as ‘surrogacy tourism’ or ‘birther tourism’, which is the main topic of this research. In contrast to existing research most of which is confined to the medical angle, here we look at how marketing makes surrogacy tourism more accessible but concomitantly promotes unwanted ethical and marketing practices, even if inadvertently. On one hand, rigorous promotion of surrogacy tourism has successfully spread the word and has made such option available to individuals who would have otherwise been unaware of such opportunity. On the other hand, excessive marketing has resulted in unethical, illegal and in some cases, unhealthy medical practices in which, service providers, clinics and doctors often participate, but on which there appears to be scant research. This analysis, therefore, has two-fold implications: first, the findings can be extended to several other related professions, such as the medical community, administrators, law enforcement agencies and most importantly, potential ‘parents’; secondly, it can aid administrators and regulators tighten extant loopholes in the system, and thereby, provide a more robust and safer option for surrogate tourists.
Transnational Feminist Itineraries brings together scholars and activists from multiple continents to demonstrate the ongoing importance of transnational feminist theory in challenging neoliberal globalization and the rise of authoritarian nationalisms around the world. The contributors illuminate transnational feminism's unique constellation of elements: its specific mode of thinking across scales, its historical understanding of identity categories, and its expansive imagining of solidarity based on difference rather than similarity. Contesting the idea that transnational feminism works in opposition to other approaches—especially intersectional and decolonial feminisms—this volume instead argues for their complementarity. Throughout, the contributors call for reaching across social, ideological, and geographical boundaries to better confront the growing reach of nationalism, authoritarianism, and religious and economic fundamentalism.
Contributors. Mary Bernstein, Isabel Maria Cortesão Casimiro, Rafael de la Dehesa, Carmen L. Diaz Alba, Inderpal Grewal, Cricket Keating, Amy Lind, Laura L. Lovett, Kathryn Moeller, Nancy A. Naples, Jennifer C. Nash, Amrita Pande, Srila Roy, Cara K. Snyder, Ashwini Tambe, Millie Thayer, Catarina Casimiro Trindade
Transnational Feminist Itineraries brings together scholars and activists from multiple continents to demonstrate the ongoing importance of transnational feminist theory in challenging neoliberal globalization and the rise of authoritarian nationalisms around the world. The contributors illuminate transnational feminism's unique constellation of elements: its specific mode of thinking across scales, its historical understanding of identity categories, and its expansive imagining of solidarity based on difference rather than similarity. Contesting the idea that transnational feminism works in opposition to other approaches—especially intersectional and decolonial feminisms—this volume instead argues for their complementarity. Throughout, the contributors call for reaching across social, ideological, and geographical boundaries to better confront the growing reach of nationalism, authoritarianism, and religious and economic fundamentalism.
Contributors. Mary Bernstein, Isabel Maria Cortesão Casimiro, Rafael de la Dehesa, Carmen L. Diaz Alba, Inderpal Grewal, Cricket Keating, Amy Lind, Laura L. Lovett, Kathryn Moeller, Nancy A. Naples, Jennifer C. Nash, Amrita Pande, Srila Roy, Cara K. Snyder, Ashwini Tambe, Millie Thayer, Catarina Casimiro Trindade
Transnational Feminist Itineraries brings together scholars and activists from multiple continents to demonstrate the ongoing importance of transnational feminist theory in challenging neoliberal globalization and the rise of authoritarian nationalisms around the world. The contributors illuminate transnational feminism's unique constellation of elements: its specific mode of thinking across scales, its historical understanding of identity categories, and its expansive imagining of solidarity based on difference rather than similarity. Contesting the idea that transnational feminism works in opposition to other approaches—especially intersectional and decolonial feminisms—this volume instead argues for their complementarity. Throughout, the contributors call for reaching across social, ideological, and geographical boundaries to better confront the growing reach of nationalism, authoritarianism, and religious and economic fundamentalism.
Contributors. Mary Bernstein, Isabel Maria Cortesão Casimiro, Rafael de la Dehesa, Carmen L. Diaz Alba, Inderpal Grewal, Cricket Keating, Amy Lind, Laura L. Lovett, Kathryn Moeller, Nancy A. Naples, Jennifer C. Nash, Amrita Pande, Srila Roy, Cara K. Snyder, Ashwini Tambe, Millie Thayer, Catarina Casimiro Trindade
Transnational Feminist Itineraries brings together scholars and activists from multiple continents to demonstrate the ongoing importance of transnational feminist theory in challenging neoliberal globalization and the rise of authoritarian nationalisms around the world. The contributors illuminate transnational feminism's unique constellation of elements: its specific mode of thinking across scales, its historical understanding of identity categories, and its expansive imagining of solidarity based on difference rather than similarity. Contesting the idea that transnational feminism works in opposition to other approaches—especially intersectional and decolonial feminisms—this volume instead argues for their complementarity. Throughout, the contributors call for reaching across social, ideological, and geographical boundaries to better confront the growing reach of nationalism, authoritarianism, and religious and economic fundamentalism.
Contributors. Mary Bernstein, Isabel Maria Cortesão Casimiro, Rafael de la Dehesa, Carmen L. Diaz Alba, Inderpal Grewal, Cricket Keating, Amy Lind, Laura L. Lovett, Kathryn Moeller, Nancy A. Naples, Jennifer C. Nash, Amrita Pande, Srila Roy, Cara K. Snyder, Ashwini Tambe, Millie Thayer, Catarina Casimiro Trindade
Transnational Feminist Itineraries brings together scholars and activists from multiple continents to demonstrate the ongoing importance of transnational feminist theory in challenging neoliberal globalization and the rise of authoritarian nationalisms around the world. The contributors illuminate transnational feminism's unique constellation of elements: its specific mode of thinking across scales, its historical understanding of identity categories, and its expansive imagining of solidarity based on difference rather than similarity. Contesting the idea that transnational feminism works in opposition to other approaches—especially intersectional and decolonial feminisms—this volume instead argues for their complementarity. Throughout, the contributors call for reaching across social, ideological, and geographical boundaries to better confront the growing reach of nationalism, authoritarianism, and religious and economic fundamentalism.
Contributors. Mary Bernstein, Isabel Maria Cortesão Casimiro, Rafael de la Dehesa, Carmen L. Diaz Alba, Inderpal Grewal, Cricket Keating, Amy Lind, Laura L. Lovett, Kathryn Moeller, Nancy A. Naples, Jennifer C. Nash, Amrita Pande, Srila Roy, Cara K. Snyder, Ashwini Tambe, Millie Thayer, Catarina Casimiro Trindade
Transnational Feminist Itineraries brings together scholars and activists from multiple continents to demonstrate the ongoing importance of transnational feminist theory in challenging neoliberal globalization and the rise of authoritarian nationalisms around the world. The contributors illuminate transnational feminism's unique constellation of elements: its specific mode of thinking across scales, its historical understanding of identity categories, and its expansive imagining of solidarity based on difference rather than similarity. Contesting the idea that transnational feminism works in opposition to other approaches—especially intersectional and decolonial feminisms—this volume instead argues for their complementarity. Throughout, the contributors call for reaching across social, ideological, and geographical boundaries to better confront the growing reach of nationalism, authoritarianism, and religious and economic fundamentalism.
Contributors. Mary Bernstein, Isabel Maria Cortesão Casimiro, Rafael de la Dehesa, Carmen L. Diaz Alba, Inderpal Grewal, Cricket Keating, Amy Lind, Laura L. Lovett, Kathryn Moeller, Nancy A. Naples, Jennifer C. Nash, Amrita Pande, Srila Roy, Cara K. Snyder, Ashwini Tambe, Millie Thayer, Catarina Casimiro Trindade
Transnational Feminist Itineraries brings together scholars and activists from multiple continents to demonstrate the ongoing importance of transnational feminist theory in challenging neoliberal globalization and the rise of authoritarian nationalisms around the world. The contributors illuminate transnational feminism's unique constellation of elements: its specific mode of thinking across scales, its historical understanding of identity categories, and its expansive imagining of solidarity based on difference rather than similarity. Contesting the idea that transnational feminism works in opposition to other approaches—especially intersectional and decolonial feminisms—this volume instead argues for their complementarity. Throughout, the contributors call for reaching across social, ideological, and geographical boundaries to better confront the growing reach of nationalism, authoritarianism, and religious and economic fundamentalism.
Contributors. Mary Bernstein, Isabel Maria Cortesão Casimiro, Rafael de la Dehesa, Carmen L. Diaz Alba, Inderpal Grewal, Cricket Keating, Amy Lind, Laura L. Lovett, Kathryn Moeller, Nancy A. Naples, Jennifer C. Nash, Amrita Pande, Srila Roy, Cara K. Snyder, Ashwini Tambe, Millie Thayer, Catarina Casimiro Trindade
Transnational Feminist Itineraries brings together scholars and activists from multiple continents to demonstrate the ongoing importance of transnational feminist theory in challenging neoliberal globalization and the rise of authoritarian nationalisms around the world. The contributors illuminate transnational feminism's unique constellation of elements: its specific mode of thinking across scales, its historical understanding of identity categories, and its expansive imagining of solidarity based on difference rather than similarity. Contesting the idea that transnational feminism works in opposition to other approaches—especially intersectional and decolonial feminisms—this volume instead argues for their complementarity. Throughout, the contributors call for reaching across social, ideological, and geographical boundaries to better confront the growing reach of nationalism, authoritarianism, and religious and economic fundamentalism.
Contributors. Mary Bernstein, Isabel Maria Cortesão Casimiro, Rafael de la Dehesa, Carmen L. Diaz Alba, Inderpal Grewal, Cricket Keating, Amy Lind, Laura L. Lovett, Kathryn Moeller, Nancy A. Naples, Jennifer C. Nash, Amrita Pande, Srila Roy, Cara K. Snyder, Ashwini Tambe, Millie Thayer, Catarina Casimiro Trindade
Transnational Feminist Itineraries brings together scholars and activists from multiple continents to demonstrate the ongoing importance of transnational feminist theory in challenging neoliberal globalization and the rise of authoritarian nationalisms around the world. The contributors illuminate transnational feminism's unique constellation of elements: its specific mode of thinking across scales, its historical understanding of identity categories, and its expansive imagining of solidarity based on difference rather than similarity. Contesting the idea that transnational feminism works in opposition to other approaches—especially intersectional and decolonial feminisms—this volume instead argues for their complementarity. Throughout, the contributors call for reaching across social, ideological, and geographical boundaries to better confront the growing reach of nationalism, authoritarianism, and religious and economic fundamentalism.
Contributors. Mary Bernstein, Isabel Maria Cortesão Casimiro, Rafael de la Dehesa, Carmen L. Diaz Alba, Inderpal Grewal, Cricket Keating, Amy Lind, Laura L. Lovett, Kathryn Moeller, Nancy A. Naples, Jennifer C. Nash, Amrita Pande, Srila Roy, Cara K. Snyder, Ashwini Tambe, Millie Thayer, Catarina Casimiro Trindade
Transnational Feminist Itineraries brings together scholars and activists from multiple continents to demonstrate the ongoing importance of transnational feminist theory in challenging neoliberal globalization and the rise of authoritarian nationalisms around the world. The contributors illuminate transnational feminism's unique constellation of elements: its specific mode of thinking across scales, its historical understanding of identity categories, and its expansive imagining of solidarity based on difference rather than similarity. Contesting the idea that transnational feminism works in opposition to other approaches—especially intersectional and decolonial feminisms—this volume instead argues for their complementarity. Throughout, the contributors call for reaching across social, ideological, and geographical boundaries to better confront the growing reach of nationalism, authoritarianism, and religious and economic fundamentalism.
Contributors. Mary Bernstein, Isabel Maria Cortesão Casimiro, Rafael de la Dehesa, Carmen L. Diaz Alba, Inderpal Grewal, Cricket Keating, Amy Lind, Laura L. Lovett, Kathryn Moeller, Nancy A. Naples, Jennifer C. Nash, Amrita Pande, Srila Roy, Cara K. Snyder, Ashwini Tambe, Millie Thayer, Catarina Casimiro Trindade
Transnational Feminist Itineraries brings together scholars and activists from multiple continents to demonstrate the ongoing importance of transnational feminist theory in challenging neoliberal globalization and the rise of authoritarian nationalisms around the world. The contributors illuminate transnational feminism's unique constellation of elements: its specific mode of thinking across scales, its historical understanding of identity categories, and its expansive imagining of solidarity based on difference rather than similarity. Contesting the idea that transnational feminism works in opposition to other approaches—especially intersectional and decolonial feminisms—this volume instead argues for their complementarity. Throughout, the contributors call for reaching across social, ideological, and geographical boundaries to better confront the growing reach of nationalism, authoritarianism, and religious and economic fundamentalism.
Contributors. Mary Bernstein, Isabel Maria Cortesão Casimiro, Rafael de la Dehesa, Carmen L. Diaz Alba, Inderpal Grewal, Cricket Keating, Amy Lind, Laura L. Lovett, Kathryn Moeller, Nancy A. Naples, Jennifer C. Nash, Amrita Pande, Srila Roy, Cara K. Snyder, Ashwini Tambe, Millie Thayer, Catarina Casimiro Trindade
Transnational Feminist Itineraries brings together scholars and activists from multiple continents to demonstrate the ongoing importance of transnational feminist theory in challenging neoliberal globalization and the rise of authoritarian nationalisms around the world. The contributors illuminate transnational feminism's unique constellation of elements: its specific mode of thinking across scales, its historical understanding of identity categories, and its expansive imagining of solidarity based on difference rather than similarity. Contesting the idea that transnational feminism works in opposition to other approaches—especially intersectional and decolonial feminisms—this volume instead argues for their complementarity. Throughout, the contributors call for reaching across social, ideological, and geographical boundaries to better confront the growing reach of nationalism, authoritarianism, and religious and economic fundamentalism.
Contributors. Mary Bernstein, Isabel Maria Cortesão Casimiro, Rafael de la Dehesa, Carmen L. Diaz Alba, Inderpal Grewal, Cricket Keating, Amy Lind, Laura L. Lovett, Kathryn Moeller, Nancy A. Naples, Jennifer C. Nash, Amrita Pande, Srila Roy, Cara K. Snyder, Ashwini Tambe, Millie Thayer, Catarina Casimiro Trindade
Transnational Feminist Itineraries brings together scholars and activists from multiple continents to demonstrate the ongoing importance of transnational feminist theory in challenging neoliberal globalization and the rise of authoritarian nationalisms around the world. The contributors illuminate transnational feminism's unique constellation of elements: its specific mode of thinking across scales, its historical understanding of identity categories, and its expansive imagining of solidarity based on difference rather than similarity. Contesting the idea that transnational feminism works in opposition to other approaches—especially intersectional and decolonial feminisms—this volume instead argues for their complementarity. Throughout, the contributors call for reaching across social, ideological, and geographical boundaries to better confront the growing reach of nationalism, authoritarianism, and religious and economic fundamentalism.
Contributors. Mary Bernstein, Isabel Maria Cortesão Casimiro, Rafael de la Dehesa, Carmen L. Diaz Alba, Inderpal Grewal, Cricket Keating, Amy Lind, Laura L. Lovett, Kathryn Moeller, Nancy A. Naples, Jennifer C. Nash, Amrita Pande, Srila Roy, Cara K. Snyder, Ashwini Tambe, Millie Thayer, Catarina Casimiro Trindade
Russia is one of the few countries, where commercial gestational surrogacy a legal for locals and foreigners. Even though surrogacy in Russia is stigmatized, a sizeable number of Russian women would like to become surrogates. Drawing on SelfDetermination Theory and based on a qualitative content analysis of 656 posts in a Russian-language online forum for SMs, this paper explores how Russian surrogates conceptualize their occupation and what are their primary aims and motivations for surrogacy. They discuss four interrelated motives: 1) Financial: SM is a job, even a profession, that should be properly remunerated, 2) Social: SMs enjoy their unique and indispensable role as carriers of future children that could not be born otherwise, 3) Hedonistic: SMs enjoy the very experience of pregnancy and related body sensations, and 4) Moral: SMs find satisfaction in contributing to common good and ensuring future happiness of a childless couple. Judging by the posts on the website under study, the extrinsic and intrinsic aspects of these motives are closelyintertwined.
Sweden is often described as a ‘moderate’ country when it comes to legislation and policy on assisted reproductive technologies, being relatively permissive with regards to their use, but only permitting them within a strictly regulated framework. The ‘surrogacy question’, however, remains a polarized issue in media debates and has become a key topic of public negotiation and contestation around the meaning of a range of rights. This article investigates how surrogacy became a topic for policy debate in Swedish opinion journalism between 2009 and 2019. Drawing on discourse theory, the article investigates which, and ‘whose’, rights are mobilized in the debate, as well as how these rights are differently articulated and ‘filled with meaning’. It argues that polarized discourse coalitions are formed across the political spectrum, and that the absence of explicit legislation on surrogacy has led to a pragmatic ‘split policy’ which keeps both opponents and proponents unsatisfied, keeping the debate alive.
Income disparity has become a mainstay of the international critique and public discourse on commercial surrogacy. Using existing empirical data, including our two respective field studies in India and the United States, we analyze surrogacy from a gender perspective and show how the visibility of gender disparities in a transnational context encourages assumptions at the local and national context. In doing so, we highlight the narrative of inequality, explore the complexity of surrogacy outside of a one-note narrative, and show how that narrative operates to overshadow the complex, lived experiences of those engaged in surrogacy.
Current surrogacy research primarily focuses on commercial surrogacy with a particular emphasis on experiences of surrogate mothers, whereas intended parents' voices are dominated by western perspectives. Indigenous voices are only a whisper. This study presents another side of the surrogacy story by including the voices of intended parents residing in India, elicited through eight in-depth interviews. We assert there is need to understand Indian intended parents' socio-spatial experiences in the presence of a changing surrogacy law in India and the socio-cultural importance of childbearing and parenthood to move towards relational reproductive justice. By recognising the relational nature of surrogacy reproduction and drawing on the concepts of ethics of care in light of power and stigma discussions, this paper demonstrates how stigma is experienced by intended parents, its effect on their reproductive journey and wellbeing, as well as how stigma hinders achieving the vision of relational reproductive justice. We suggest that, in order to make surrogacy a positive experience for the people involved in surrogacy, there is a need to address stigma and view surrogacy as a relationship.
Commercial surrogacy market, also referred as ‘market of lives’, is a highly contested market due to various moral and ethical issues associated with this market. This market is perpetuated by a patriarchal mindset which controls women’s bodies. With the help of medical science and technology-assisted reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization (IVF) resulted in gestational surrogacy. The chapter throws light on the key facilitators of this market, the surrogate agents who play a crucial role in this market of lives as they bring women who intend to become surrogate mothers or egg donors to the IVF clinic. There is an interesting thing that I observed during my fieldwork about the role these agents played in influencing the decisions of women to become egg donors and surrogate mothers and at times even using force. I bring such a narrative from my fieldwork where the agent forced a woman to become an egg donor. The argument I make here is how, for surrogate mothers, it becomes a work and the labor they do is ‘reproductive labor’ for nine months for which they are financially compensated in lieu of the child reproduced. Something as intimate as motherhood is brought in this market of lives and these surrogate mothers navigate the stigma associated with this ‘work’ by using the language of help provided to the intended parent or parents. The chapter contemplates the oppressive nature of these technologies which often oppresses women who act as surrogate mothers. This paper engages and analyzes these crucial actors in the gestational surrogacy market where ‘life itself’ is traded.
In this article, we look at the predicament of Indian commercial surrogates and how they cope with the knowledge that the child they are carrying must be relinquished by them soon after delivery. How can a surrogate distance herself emotionally from the baby she is carrying? And to what extent is she supported by other surrogates, her family members and the social environment? Much has been written about the economic and social vulnerability of Indian surrogates. We would like to focus in particular on their emotional vulnerability. Following Rogers et al. (2012a), we ask what are the sources of these women’s vulnerability? How do they handle it? Our observations are based on literature review, and empirical research, the latter conducted by the second author in a clinic in South India. To conclude we suggest that the regulation in the making on surrogacy needs to be context and individual sensitive in order to address this aspect of their vulnerability.
The paper provides a closer perspective on the series of discriminatory practices that affect both the infertile woman battling reproductive failures as well as the fertile surrogate who gestates on her behalf. It would bring out concerns on the persistence of stigma in the altruistic form of surrogacy, on the conceptual dimensions of stigma operating in what I call a surrogacy-space and most importantly on the law’s positionality in divesting (or not) the stigma entrenched in Indian surrogacy.
Analyzed, in a qualitative study, the ways in which morticians and funeral directors attempted to overcome the stigma attached to their work. Data were gathered from ethnographic interviews with 19 morticians and funeral directors (aged 26–64 yrs) in 4 states. These workers were acutely aware of the stigma associated with their work and employed symbolic and dramaturgical techniques to neutralize and diminish it. Among these techniques were symbolically redefining their work, practicing role distance, emphasizing professionalism, emphasizing their services to the living, and prizing socioeconomic status (SES) over occupational prestige. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
New Jersey's Baby M case has thrust the issue of surrogate motherhood on state legislatures throughout the country. Like artificial insemination in the 1950s and 1960s, this new reproductive technology is evoking legislative responses ranging from horrified prohibition to cautious facilitation