Gay Men Pursuing Parenthood through Surrogacy: Reconfiguring Kinship

(Paperback)

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Dean Murphy analyses how relatedness is enacted in the context of gay men pursuing parenthood and a 'child of one's own' through both domestic and transnational surrogacy arrangements.

Drawing on data collected from in-depth interviews with gay men living in Australia and the United States, and news media, the book explores how gay men 'enact' parenthood and family life in ways that both challenge and reinforce dominant notions of kinship and masculinity. These men represent an important first generation to access assisted reproductive technologies for this purpose and are part of an increasing proportion of gay men becoming parents outside a (previous) heterosexual relationship.

The findings demonstrate that men come to experience parenthood desire largely because of the new narratives and opportunities being made available to them today.

Reviews

A great piece of work. Good theoretical underpinning, good methodology, well-argued discussion, empirically sound. The author demonstrates mastery of the field. --Lorraine Culley, Emeritus Professor of Social Science and Health, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester

Author Bio

Dr Dean Murphy is a cultural researcher who has worked across academia and public policy in the fields of sexuality, HIV and health. He is currently a Research Fellow at the National Drug Research Institute (Curtin University) exploring drug use and masculinity. He also works at the Centre for Social Research in Health (UNSW) where he undertakes research on the development and understanding of new HIV prevention technologies, the use of social media, and the development of novel research methods.