Abstract
Reviewed by: Rachelle Chadwick, University of Pretoria, South Africa
In this book, Zsuzsa Berend offers rich insights into the ways in which surrogates (gestational and traditional) construct and negotiate meanings about the moral and relational economies of surrogacy, motherhood, kinship, parenthood and reproduction in the context of the contemporary United States (US). Using the largest online surrogacy forum in the US, www.surromomsonline.com (SMO), as fieldwork site, Zsuzsa Berend explores the ways in which online surrogacy discussions and stories emerge as a collective form of social practice in which meanings, ideals, norms and moral identities vis-à-vis surrogacy are performed, contested and reproduced. The aim of the book is to focus on the collective, joint and relational meaning-making work produced via SMO discussions, in particular, “the interactions that create shared understandings, ideas and desires” (p. 5). As Berend makes clear in the introduction to the book, the focus is not on “the politics of reproduction or reproductive technologies” (p. 5). Via online observation, an analysis of online discussions, threads and polls, email correspondence with 35 surrogates from SMO and face-to-face conversations with one site member, Berend explores the ways in which “the ethos of surrogacy” (p. 202), the characteristics of the “good surrogate” and the meanings of surrogacy are contested, defined and woven in relation to four central affective metaphors/objects, namely: journey, contract, money and gift. As surrogates collectively and creatively weave meanings in relation to these four affective objects via discussions on the “semiotic community” (p. 229) of SMO, Berend shows how they also contest and rewrite normative meanings about surrogacy as either a commodity exchange or altruistic act, redefine motherhood (and parenthood) as a matter of intent (and not biology or gestation) and complicate ideas about kinship and the interrelatedness between “money and gift, contract and love” (p. 256).
The book is organized into five chapters. Chapter 1 provides a contextualization of SMO as ethnographic field site, gives information about the characteristics of the site (and site members) and explores issues pertaining to the use of an online forum as a source of data. As an exploration of an online world and community, it is declared upfront that the book “is not a conventional ethnography” (p. 28). However, Berend argues strongly that online discussions and communications are a “form of social action” constituting an “emerging culture of surrogacy” (p. 28). Furthermore, SMO is a discursive and relational community in which self and group identity vis-à-vis surrogacy is constructed and contested. Importantly, it is also a community in which surrogates’ own queries, concerns and interests drive and shape discussions. Furthermore, as Berend points out, meaning is constructed collectively as members engage, respond and contest each other’s posts and communicative exchanges. As such, this corpus of data contributes to our understandings of surrogacy by opening up a different analytic and methodological lens in its focus on online “webs of significance” (p. 29).
Chapter 2 follows the metaphor of journey. Surrogacy emerges as a multidimensional relational and emotional journey involving multiple actors, forms of intimacy and bonding, losses and moral meanings. Berend shows the ways in which surrogates’ relationships with Intended Parents (IPs) are often framed within a rhetoric of love, with multiple references to “chemistry”, destiny, “love at first sight”, listening to the heart and the “perfect match”. Surrogacy is thus made compatible with a wider narrative framing of procreation and childbearing as ideally “acts of love” within US culture. Far from being a commodity exchange or a business transaction, the journey of surrogacy is cast as a relational, emotional and intimate process. At the same time, Berend deftly shows how surrogates work to balance a rhetoric of love and intimacy with discussions of contracts, money and compensation. Importantly, this chapter also shows the ways in which surrogates redefine motherhood (and parenthood) as a matter of intent and desire and actively work to reject biological ties or gestational work as grounds for motherhood.
Chapter 3 explores the ways in which surrogacy relationships are negotiated through the tangible and intangible complexities of the contract. Berend shows how the contract comes to function as the frictional meeting-place of the ambiguous and fraught “conflict between heart and money” (p. 109). While the surrogacy experience is constructed as a relational journey involving heart, love and intimacy, it is also, at the same time, a legal and financial agreement. Fees, money and compensation are also heavy with symbolic resonances and, for many surrogates, resound with affective meanings about levels of respect, reciprocity, and the recognition of emotional, embodied and familial sacrifices. Furthermore, at stake in the matter of the contract is not only money and financial compensation but also a litany of delicate, complex and morally explosive issues, including selective reduction, the number of embryos to transfer and acceptable grounds for termination. As such, the metaphor of the contract is shown to be resonant with complex and multilayered meanings and contestations around the moral, ethical and relational politics of surrogacy.
Chapter 4 explores the ways money functions as a discursive, moral and affective currency in the relational work of online surrogacy discussions. Berend shows how US surrogates uniformly reject efforts to liken what they do to paid work. Thus, while surrogates affirm that money is crucial as a form of compensation for bodily and emotional suffering and the loss of capacity to work and take care of their own families, money received is not regarded as a “price” or “payment”. Money is interwoven with affective meaning and relational resonances and is linked to expressions of respect, trust, appreciation and love. As a result, money is defined as necessarily embedded in social relationships. Furthermore, surrogates also redefine the relationship between money and altruism, rejecting binarism and insisting that altruism and remuneration are not incompatible. Significantly, in rejecting efforts to liken surrogacy to a form of paid work and preferring to think of it as a kind of art, surrogates “make a statement about the social worth and uniqueness of pregnancy and babies” (p. 162).
Chapter 5 explores “the online world of surrogacy” via the metaphor of gift, showing, “the complex meanings and practices of gifting” (p. 187) in surrogacy relationships. “Giving” is central to surrogacy identity and morality. As such, surrogates on SMO identify themselves as a “community of generous givers rather than professional ‘carriers’ or service providers” (p. 188). Furthermore, in rejecting a language of paid work, professional service, product-selling or womb-renting, surrogates embrace the rhetoric of gifting to make meaning of the surrogacy journey. As defined by surrogates, however, the “gift of life” is not reducible to the child or baby. Interestingly, it is not the child that is the gift but rather the process of pregnancy or gestation itself that culminates in parenthood. For many surrogates, it is the gift of parenthood (not the baby itself) that they wish to give or share with IPs. Surrogacy is redefined by surrogates themselves as “a gift relationship” (p. 193). As a result, it ideally involves bonds of reciprocity and affective ties of intimacy and relationship.
Via an intricate and delicate weaving of US surrogates’ views, stories and perspectives of surrogacy practices on SMO, Zsuzsa Berend has succeeded in producing a nuanced exploration of surrogates’ complex and contested meaning-making practices. As such, Berend has succeeded in the stated objective to “privilege surrogates’ definitions/views of motherhood and of surrogacy relationships” (p. 4). Furthermore, while previous explorations of surrogacy have tended to favour interview, narrative and traditional ethnographic data, this exploration of SMO – an online forum and community of voices – makes an important methodological addition to the literature on surrogacy. The book also makes a notable contribution to debates about the commodification of reproductive processes and the redefinition of pregnancy and birth as gestational work or labour. Most significantly, it is the voices of surrogates themselves that are foregrounded here. It is these voices that should be at the forefront of future conceptual, feminist and social justice initiatives in this area. The Online World of Surrogacy is thus an important and rich book which will be critical reading for scholars, researchers and postgraduate students interested in reproductive politics, surrogacy and feminist debates pertaining to gendered bodies/embodiment.