Procreative consciousness in a global market: gay men's paths to surrogacy in the USA

Abstract

This article explores one of the contemporary contexts of reproductive decision-making: gay men's paths to surrogacy within the globalised USA fertility industry. The stories collected from qualitative interviews and ethnographic research with 37 gay men from several countries in Europe and the USA, who all had children through surrogacy in the USA, show that the men's understandings of their own reproductive aspirations and opportunities changed over time, as if recovering the fertility that was lost by coming out. This shift in the men's procreative consciousnessi.e. in their awareness of being subjects that could reproduce (or not)disrupts the heteronormative idea that to be queer is not to contribute to the reproduction of the species, the family and the nation. Alongside this consciousness shift, however, reproductive decision-making of the gay men in this study was contingent on multiple factors: access to the fertility industry; economics, given how expensive and thus stratified surrogacy is; social support in the men's communities and extended families; their emotions and values. Therefore these gay men's reproductive decision-making could be characterized in terms of reproductive contingency and consciousness change, within which the globalised fertility industry was one relevant element among the choreography of multiple factors. These findings evidence that despite naturalization of reproduction as an obvious or 'natural' event in life, it is contingent, anything but obvious, and its perceptions are changeable. Reproduction is achieved not merely as a result of rational decision-making but rather in the interplay with an array of factors.

Understanding Parenting Intentions Among Childfree Gay Men: A Comparison With Lesbian Women and Heterosexual Men and Women

“…This discrepancy might support the premise of this study that there is a conceptual difference between having or not having parenting intentions. Given the experienced barriers to becoming parents (Baiocco et al, 2012;Kazyak et al, 2018;Smietana, 2018), it is plausible that gay men do not convert their desire to have a child into parenting intentions as often as heterosexual men do. Although, once gay men plan to have children, they seem to have experienced a change in their procreative consciousness and see opportunities to overcome barriers and to fulfill their desire to have children (Smietana, 2018).…”

“…These findings might reflect the well-developed gay identity, along with a future parent identity of the gay men in this study with all having intentions to become parents in the future. Gay men who plan parenthood have to deal with hardships like biological (Mezey, 2013), financial (Smietana, 2018), legal barriers (Kazyak et al, 2018), and internalized and externalized stigmas because they belong to a sexual minority status and challenge traditional parenting patterns (e.g., Goldberg et al, 2012;Carneiro et al, 2017). In facing these hardships, gay men who intend to become fathers generally lack a role model of a father being gay and being the primary caregiver, coping with similar hardships (Gianino, 2008).…”

“…Becoming a parent is a universal desire for many young people (Purewal and Van den Akker, 2007), however, parenthood is not always possible for sexual minority people, especially gay men. Gay men who want to become parents experience a number of legal (Kazyak et al, 2018) and financial barriers (Smietana, 2018), along with greater experiences of stigmatization (e.g., Berkowitz and Marsiglio, 2007;Baiocco et al, 2012;Goldberg et al, 2012;Carone et al, 2017). In addition, gay men more often face greater complexities when deciding how to become a parent (surrogacy, adoption, co-parenting, and foster care; Murphy, 2013;Smietana et al, 2014;Carone et al, 2017;Smietana, 2018).…”

“…Gay men who want to become parents experience a number of legal (Kazyak et al, 2018) and financial barriers (Smietana, 2018), along with greater experiences of stigmatization (e.g., Berkowitz and Marsiglio, 2007;Baiocco et al, 2012;Goldberg et al, 2012;Carone et al, 2017). In addition, gay men more often face greater complexities when deciding how to become a parent (surrogacy, adoption, co-parenting, and foster care; Murphy, 2013;Smietana et al, 2014;Carone et al, 2017;Smietana, 2018). Nevertheless, many gay men want to become parents in the future (Gates et al, 2007;Goldberg et al, 2012;Scandurra et al, 2019).…”

Single fathers by choice: Memoirs of getting twins and triplets via transnational gestational surrogacy

“…I had to gather my resources, do the work …, and make this happen' (p. 9, ). This is a striking example of 'procreative consciousness' a concept used to explain how gay men construct their procreative identities over the life course (Berkowitz and Marsiglio, 2007;Smietana, 2019). In this instance, the change appears to be generational rather than individual.…”