Social Media "Can someone give me a basic explanation of the reasons why [r/fourthwavewomen] opposes surrogacy[?]"
Social Media "Can someone give me a basic explanation of the reasons why [r/fourthwavewomen] opposes surrogacy[?]"
Feb 8 2025, 11:58 PM
princess_zephyrina Can someone give me a basic explanation of the reasons why this sub opposes surrogacy or point me to some resources? To be clear, I am not in any way saying I agree with surrogacy, this is just new to me and I genuinely want to learn.
chickennugs1805 To sum it up, the whole basis of surrogacy is that women and children are commodities that can be purchased, which is dehumanizing, degrading, and objectifying.
For regular employment/labour, it is not your body that is the product/service, but rather the object/action you are producing/servicing that is valuable. In surrogacy and prostitution, the woman’s (or baby’s) body is the fundamental product that is being purchased. Which is dehumanizing and exploitation. It is like it being legal to sell a kidney to the highest buyer. Not only it is dehumanizing, but it clearly targets the most vulnerable who are the most desperate for financial resources.
And not only does this affect the actual surrogates and the babies who are being exploited, but it affects all women by further cementing the idea within society that women’s bodies are up for sale as long as the price is high enough, and that everyone is entitled to them.
It also brings to thought the true meaning of consent. Is consent really consent if you have to be paid for it? How can something be consensual if the only thing separating it from a violating act and something that is acceptable is a dollar amount?
It also brings to mind for me how once something becomes consumable, it is very hard for people not to view it that way. We have deemed pigs to be food, so even if we see a pig at petting zoo, what jokes and ideas come to people’s mind? What often is the name of the pig? Bacon, porky, etc.
princess_zephyrina Thank you for this explanation. I understand now. I had most of these same criticisms for sex work but hadn’t considered how they could be applied to surrogacy before.
chickennugs1805 Glad I could help.
I honestly understand, because at face value, surrogacy usually seems like this wonderful, kind act. It appears to help families who so desperately want a child.
But the deeper you look into it, the more sinister it becomes.
What happens when the rich realize they don’t have to ruin their bodies for biological children? They can just pay some poor woman from a third-world country to do it for them (I.e. Paris Hilton).
What happens when you set the precedent that children can be purchased? All over the world, we are seeing cases of men purchasing children via surrogacy to be able to sexually abuse them.
What happens when we devalue the bond between biological mother and child? We have babies being ripped away from the only mother and home they’ve known within minutes of birth. Meanwhile puppies cannot be separated from their mothers until 8 weeks.
When we go down the road of dehumanization, the broader implications are always horrific. And usually especially for women and children.
Edited Feb 8 2025, 11:58 PM by Clover.
Kozlik's regular member account. 🍀🐐
I found this question in a r/fourthwavewomen "Open Discussion" thread and I thought this reply was really good: https://old.reddit.com/r/fourthwavewomen/comments/1idr9aj/lets_chat_open_discussion_thread/ma2di1w/?context=1
princess_zephyrina Can someone give me a basic explanation of the reasons why this sub opposes surrogacy or point me to some resources? To be clear, I am not in any way saying I agree with surrogacy, this is just new to me and I genuinely want to learn.
chickennugs1805 To sum it up, the whole basis of surrogacy is that women and children are commodities that can be purchased, which is dehumanizing, degrading, and objectifying.
For regular employment/labour, it is not your body that is the product/service, but rather the object/action you are producing/servicing that is valuable. In surrogacy and prostitution, the woman’s (or baby’s) body is the fundamental product that is being purchased. Which is dehumanizing and exploitation. It is like it being legal to sell a kidney to the highest buyer. Not only it is dehumanizing, but it clearly targets the most vulnerable who are the most desperate for financial resources.
And not only does this affect the actual surrogates and the babies who are being exploited, but it affects all women by further cementing the idea within society that women’s bodies are up for sale as long as the price is high enough, and that everyone is entitled to them.
It also brings to thought the true meaning of consent. Is consent really consent if you have to be paid for it? How can something be consensual if the only thing separating it from a violating act and something that is acceptable is a dollar amount?
It also brings to mind for me how once something becomes consumable, it is very hard for people not to view it that way. We have deemed pigs to be food, so even if we see a pig at petting zoo, what jokes and ideas come to people’s mind? What often is the name of the pig? Bacon, porky, etc.
princess_zephyrina Thank you for this explanation. I understand now. I had most of these same criticisms for sex work but hadn’t considered how they could be applied to surrogacy before.
chickennugs1805 Glad I could help.
I honestly understand, because at face value, surrogacy usually seems like this wonderful, kind act. It appears to help families who so desperately want a child.
But the deeper you look into it, the more sinister it becomes.
What happens when the rich realize they don’t have to ruin their bodies for biological children? They can just pay some poor woman from a third-world country to do it for them (I.e. Paris Hilton).
What happens when you set the precedent that children can be purchased? All over the world, we are seeing cases of men purchasing children via surrogacy to be able to sexually abuse them.
What happens when we devalue the bond between biological mother and child? We have babies being ripped away from the only mother and home they’ve known within minutes of birth. Meanwhile puppies cannot be separated from their mothers until 8 weeks.
When we go down the road of dehumanization, the broader implications are always horrific. And usually especially for women and children.
Kozlik's regular member account. 🍀🐐
