Celebrities Endorse a New Product: Children as Commodities

Men and women on the front lines of the culture war have been saying for some time that the next step after redefining marriage will be redefining parenthood. The next arena for “choice,” they predicted, will be not just the negative “choice” of deciding to not be a mother, but the positive “choice” to become a mother. “When I am good and ready to become a parent,” the mantra will become, “I am entitled to have my dream baby, on my own terms.”

I am sorry to say that we have been proven correct in our predictions. It is now official: Childbearing is a fully commercialized industry, complete with celebrity endorsements, advertisements, free giveaways and plenty of other trappings of the consumer culture.

The simplest way to give people what they want is to turn the matter over to the market. After all, the market is a consumer sovereignty system that specializes in giving people what they want with no questions asked. Don’t believe me? Check out the advertising for the Fertility Planit conference, which was held last weekend at UCLA. It was billed as “the first event of its kind, helping people explore all of their options for having children and finding the right partners.”

“Millions of same-sex couples and singles are creating families through donors, fostering, adoption, surrogacy and co-parenting. They are inspired by the 200+ experts and celebrities speaking out and sharing personal stories at Fertility Planit,” boasted the press flyer for the event.  (more...)

Celebrities Endorse a New Product: Children as Commodities