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8 - Heterosexuality as a Prenatal Social Problem: Why Parents and Courts Have a Taste for Heterosexuality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2012

José Gabilondo
Affiliation:
Florida International University
Michele Bratcher Goodwin
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
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Summary

José: Hey, Dick, would you rather have a whole gay baby or a straight one without a little toe?

Dick: Yuck, what a weird question. I don't know. I never really gave it much thought.

Jane: Well … I think that I'd rather have the straight baby. People don't really see your toes … and who needs two little toes, anyway?

José: Indeed. How about a whole gay baby or a straight one without a pinkie?

Jane: Gee, that's harder. I mean, you can see a missing pinkie.

Dick: Ughghg …

José: So true. Well, then, how about a whole gay baby or a straight one without a thumb?

Jane: A thumb! An opposable thumb? No way, José. Now you've gone too far. You can't do anything without a thumb … I'll take the gay baby.

Dick: Oh, jeez

Michele Bratcher Goodwin has analyzed the race discount in adoption markets and recommended reforms to mitigate marketized racism in this secondary market for children. Analogizing to her argument, I argue that many – perhaps most – heterosexual would-be parents also have a strong preference for heterosexuality in offspring: what I call the “taste” for heterosexuality. It may seem harmless and even benevolent, given the animus to which sexual minorities are subject at the hands of judges, legislators, deans, teachers, doctors, and even their families. But the taste contributes to the very condition – risk to sexual minorities – which would-be parents often use to justify a heterosexuality offspring preference: “It's for the child's sake, not my own.”

Type
Chapter
Information
Baby Markets
Money and the New Politics of Creating Families
, pp. 118 - 131
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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References

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