"She's Truly Just the Oven for Us:" Discourse Dependency in Families of Children Born through a Surrogate

Reproductive technologies have created opportunities for individuals to conceive children through surrogacy. Surrogacy reflects biology and traditional reproduction because the genetic material often comes from both parents but also signifies a new way of creating family because of the absence of a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Western journal of communication 2021-10, Vol.85 (5), p.568-587
Main Authors: Miller-Ott, Aimee E., Hopper, K. Megan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biology
Discourse Dependency
Discourse strategies
Families & family life
Family Communication
Family Identity
Naming
Parent-child relations
Surrogacy
Surrogate mothers
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Summary:Reproductive technologies have created opportunities for individuals to conceive children through surrogacy. Surrogacy reflects biology and traditional reproduction because the genetic material often comes from both parents but also signifies a new way of creating family because of the absence of a pregnant mother and the use of a third party. The goal of the study was to understand how parents of children born through a surrogate use discourse to construct family identity. Parents of children born through surrogates voiced six discursive strategies to construct family identity: discussing, ritualizing, naming, narrating, explaining, and legitimizing.
ISSN:1057-0314
1745-1027
DOI:10.1080/10570314.2021.1992000