The Desire for Parenthood: Gay Men Choosing to Become Parents Through Surrogacy

Gay men are becoming increasingly involved in reproduction despite significant barriers limiting their access to reproductive technologies or legal parentage in many jurisdictions. Based on in-depth interviews with gay men in the United States and Australia who have become parents through surrogacy,...

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Main Author: Murphy, Dean
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2013
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/18162
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author Murphy, Dean
author_facet Murphy, Dean
author_sort Murphy, Dean
building Curtin Institutional Repository
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description Gay men are becoming increasingly involved in reproduction despite significant barriers limiting their access to reproductive technologies or legal parentage in many jurisdictions. Based on in-depth interviews with gay men in the United States and Australia who have become parents through surrogacy, I explore how gay men understand their desire to have children and what frames their parenthood experiences. The notion of choice is widespread in understandings of gay parenthood and family formation. Most of the men in this study did not develop a "procreative consciousness" as a result of sexual and fertility-related events. The majority also initially accepted the notion that homosexuality was synonymous with childlessness. Awareness of the possibilities for parenthood emerged over time through the promotional activities of surrogacy agencies, through media, peers, and relationship partners. Additionally, men played with the symbols of kinship to negotiate and obscure biogenetic paternity. © The Author(s) 2013.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-181622017-09-13T13:45:15Z The Desire for Parenthood: Gay Men Choosing to Become Parents Through Surrogacy Murphy, Dean Gay men are becoming increasingly involved in reproduction despite significant barriers limiting their access to reproductive technologies or legal parentage in many jurisdictions. Based on in-depth interviews with gay men in the United States and Australia who have become parents through surrogacy, I explore how gay men understand their desire to have children and what frames their parenthood experiences. The notion of choice is widespread in understandings of gay parenthood and family formation. Most of the men in this study did not develop a "procreative consciousness" as a result of sexual and fertility-related events. The majority also initially accepted the notion that homosexuality was synonymous with childlessness. Awareness of the possibilities for parenthood emerged over time through the promotional activities of surrogacy agencies, through media, peers, and relationship partners. Additionally, men played with the symbols of kinship to negotiate and obscure biogenetic paternity. © The Author(s) 2013. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/18162 10.1177/0192513X13484272 restricted
spellingShingle Murphy, Dean
The Desire for Parenthood: Gay Men Choosing to Become Parents Through Surrogacy
title The Desire for Parenthood: Gay Men Choosing to Become Parents Through Surrogacy
title_full The Desire for Parenthood: Gay Men Choosing to Become Parents Through Surrogacy
title_fullStr The Desire for Parenthood: Gay Men Choosing to Become Parents Through Surrogacy
title_full_unstemmed The Desire for Parenthood: Gay Men Choosing to Become Parents Through Surrogacy
title_short The Desire for Parenthood: Gay Men Choosing to Become Parents Through Surrogacy
title_sort desire for parenthood: gay men choosing to become parents through surrogacy
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/18162