Nothing is like anything else. But very few things are as invasive or fundamentally transformative as carrying a pregnancy to term. The physical, chemical and even cognitive changes are profound. If you want to talk about pregnancy "on its own terms" then that's what you have to talk about.

In theory paid surrogacy is a win-win. A childless couple get a family - a poor woman gets a potentially life-changing payout. In the best cases it is like that. But in most it's exploitative. A desperately poor woman with very few options is paid an amount that is as little as the shady-as-hell agency can get…

it doesn't matter how intelligent you are if you're drowning in desperation.

Sorry. Not everyone gets to be a parent. That's how biology works. You aren't entitled to someone else's uterus because yours doesn't work.

Ok. To begin with, just because someone is "willing" to sign away something for money - for instance, their rights as workers or personal or bodily autonomy - doesn't mean we need to let them. This is precisely why we have labor laws. Because there ARE people who would choose to work for next to nothing or under…

I was a surrogate for a couple (two dads) and I agree that it's really not at all a comparable situation to what goes on with these international arrangements. For one, the money was not vital to our survival by any means. Two, we had benefit of enough education to understand the legalese of the contract, plus our own…

Find a volunteer or live with your own personal existential tragedy. You aren't owed a baby.

Reading that Mother Jones article, seeing that India has basically legislated the exploitation of its people (women especially), christ that's depressing. I've considered surrogacy in the past, but the idea of women doing it for so little money - even though that amount is huge to them - is just predatory. These…

Yeah, I don't see sisterhood here. I see age-old commodification of women's reproductive labor and the ability of the wealthy to benefit disproportionately from the labor of the poor.

I love this. Wealthy women who think of the poor as breeding stock. These are human beings, not chattel. This concept is why I have so many issues with charities and the adoption industry as it stands. "You're poor and obviously unfit to be a mother. This Christian couple just gave us 50K, so lets give your baby to…

"A transaction part business part sisterhood." No. Just no. Fuck the "Jennifers" of the world. Labor isn't "labor." Other vulnerable women's bodies aren't factories in which to construct your family. Find a volunteer or live with your own personal existential tragedy. You aren't owed a baby.

The exes who potentially regret their decisions just prior to/after proposing to another? I've gotten two (very intoxicated) phone calls from exes when they have just made a decision that tied them to their current spouses - moving or proposing (update: both relationships seemingly going great years later!). Most…

My maternal grandmother was dogged by every widower in a fifty mile radius. She'd go out with them but refused all proposals because it was clear they were desperate to be taken care of—in the "I can't cook or clean anything" way.

The day after her grandfather died my mom walked in on her grandmother singing "My Life" by Billy Joel in her bra and underwear. She said "now I only have to cook for people I like".

My man is amaze balls.......but most men are crappy man children. If anything happens to him, sad just thinking about that, I'm going to have anonymous dalliances and Never marry again. Not all men, but most men aren't very smart or remotely kind. They want to be edgy and fit in with their peers to the detriment of…

Ugg, thanks for shining that type of light on my 12 year marriage. Just what I needed. Not

I like "The Lover" (1992) with Jane March. Very hot. Titanic sex scene? Nah.

Eric called it like it was. He SAW her put on a performance and felt duped, and decided to confront her. The tears, the theatrics she put on after that. It was so embarrassing to watch. When a girl cries like that IT'S DRAMA. When it's real you don't need to cry. You defend yourself, angrily if you want, but those…