Baby Markets: Money and the New Politics of Creating Families

From Michael Jackson and Madonna to Nadya Suleman and Jon and Kate Gosselin, creating families can no longer be described by heterosexual reproduction in the intimacy of a couple’s home and the privacy of their bedroom. On the contrary, babies can be brought into families through complex matrixes involving lawyers, coordinators, surrogates, “brokers,” donors, sellers, and endocrinologists, and without any traditional forms of intimacy. Mostly, these baby acquisitions are legal, but in some ...