Photo of a group of slave traders with their purchases...

[seven2go]

Where is sixthson when we need clarification?

Many Amish kids would probably like in on this, too, but . . . you know. . . They're just not cute.

Apparently you have actually never seen any Amish.......

 

[KaraBulut]

But a lot of that is branding. Iphone promotes an image, just as GAP does, Mercedes, or even Smirnoff.

As do cults.

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/seductive-power-of-uniforms-and-cult-dress/index.html

 

[unloadonme]

As do cults.

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/seductive-power-of-uniforms-and-cult-dress/index.html

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If we're talking cults, you missed this one:

 

[Dargelos]

We have come a long way off topic.

 

[KaraBulut]

If we're talking cults, you missed this one:

I had a couple of those in mind, too. But it would be picture of just the "traders" and not the "slaves".

 

[NotHardUp1]

We have come a long way off topic.

I'm not sure there was much interest in the OP's slur, that gay men adopting babies are collectively uncaring and monstrous in their alleged abuse of third-world surrogate mothers.

And the accusation that they are "compelled" to breed for pay is intentionally obfuscating. By no means is surrogacy the only method women in poverty can make money. The truth is, it offers MORE money than they can earn in the menial jobs avaialable to them, so they CHOOSE to carry babies for greater income.

 

[Dargelos]

I am quite sure that the op did not throw abuse at gay men who adopt. It is a noble act, it is to encouraged.
Neither was there anything but admiration for the women who undertake pregnancy as a private arrangement with expenses paid.
It is only when a for-profit agency gets involved that things become sordid. The agency exploits the buyer as well as the seller.
Note that the buyers are not only gay men, infertile hetrosexual couples also go shopping.
It is true that many womens jobs pay not enough to live on. When renting out your womb is the only way you can pay your rent, that is not a free choice. If all countries enforced a living wage, then the choice would be free. But not many do and so it isn't.

 

[NotHardUp1]

When renting out your womb is the only way you can pay your rent, that is not a free choice. If all countries enforced a living wage, then the choice would be free. But not many do and so it isn't.

It never has been, nor ever will be, the only way someone can pay bills. Histrionics don't make the woman a slave bereft of free choice.

That's a classic false dichotomy.

And the OP posted a broadside, blithely slamming all parents of surrogate babies as "slave traders" with their "purchases".

That's a very bigoted statement, intentionally lumping all surrogate parents together, as if they all share the same methods, ethics, and regard for birth mothers.

It's all well and good to post propaganda, but let's not dress it up as truth or honesty.

 

[Dargelos]

Yes, there are other ways to pay the bills, prostitution and drug dealing are popular, or there is the Melania method, marry a fat old man and hope he has a heart attack. Unfortunately for her and very unfortunately for us, it didnt go to plan. She's not the only one, human women also marry not for love but just to get by.

 

[KaraBulut]

I am quite sure that the op did not throw abuse at gay men who adopt.

Since it's not clear what was in the opening post, I'm not sure whether it referred to gay men adopting or gay men using a surrogate.

Adoption and surrogacy have overlapping legal complications but they are not the same thing.

 

[unloadonme]

Since it's not clear what was in the opening post ...

The opening post consisted of the brief text still present plus a photograph of about a dozen men each posing with a baby. In the background of the image was a partially obscured sign which included "international surrogacy". There was nothing more.

 

[Zeno Lorea]

The opening post consisted of the brief text still present plus a photograph of about a dozen men each posing with a baby. In the background of the image was a partially obscured sign which included "international surrogacy". There was nothing more.

Precisely. Not all of them were gay though a number were.

 

[Zeno Lorea]

Adoption and surrogacy have overlapping legal complications but they are not the same thing.

Indeed, I am 100% in favour of adoption. But with so many kids available for adoption worldwide, I find it repellent to see people making new kids that "look like me" with rent-a-wombs, often contractually stating what sex the baby should be etc.

 

[KaraBulut]

Indeed, I am 100% in favour of adoption. But with so many kids available for adoption worldwide, I find it repellent to see people making new kids that "look like me" with rent-a-wombs, often contractually stating what sex the baby should be etc.

I know several gay male couples who have adopted and others who have opted for surrogacy. For American gay men, it's not just about the "look like me". As illogical as it sounds, it's easier for a single gay man or a same sex couple to have a child by surrogate than it is to adopt. Most of the couples that I know who adopted were only able to do so after foster parenting and even then, it was a long and costly process.

A child of an American citizen is automatically considered an American citizen which makes the legal complications far less. Having your own child also establishes legal protections for the child and the parent. That's why a lot of gay men are going the surrogacy route.

Several countries have made it difficult for Americans to adopt and there's a lingering pall about international adoptions after the horror stories from Romanian and Russian adoptions in the 1990s.

Adopted Romanian orphans 'still suffering in adulthood'

Despite being adopted by caring UK families in the early 90s, the mental scars are often visible.

www.bbc.com

 

[NotHardUp1]

Yes, there are other ways to pay the bills, prostitution and drug dealing are popular, or there is the Melania method, marry a fat old man and hope he has a heart attack. Unfortunately for her and very unfortunately for us, it didnt go to plan. She's not the only one, human women also marry not for love but just to get by.

And there is the one our families chose: work. We farmed, and when farming no longer was viable, we worked as teachers, as clerks, as home health aids, as nursery and greenhouse workers, as fast food staff, as theater concessionists, as retail clerks, as janitors, as any number of low-paying jobs.

And we didn't get rich, nor were we middle class.

Suggesting that women ONLY have choices of illicit nature is not an honest depiction of choices the poor have. MANY choose the illicit route becaue it appears easier at first blush than physical labor. Unfortunately, they fuck around and find out. But they did have a choice.