Good deeds or exploitation?: Queer parents working for private assisted reproductive technologies companies in urban China

• Published in: Journal of lesbian studies Vol. 28; no. 4; pp. 656 - 668
• Main Author: Tao, Han
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Routledge 01-10-2024; Taylor & Francis LLC
• Subjects: Asian cultural groups; Assisted reproductive technologies; Childbirth & labor; Children; China; Companies; Exploitation; Gender inequality; Heterosexuality; Hospitals; Parents & parenting; Queer reproduction; Reproductive rights; Reproductive technologies; Same sex marriage; Sexuality; Surrogacy; Urban areas; China; Surrogacy; Assisted reproductive technologies; China; Queer reproduction
• ISSN: 1089-4160; 1540-3548; 1540-3548
• DOI: 10.1080/10894160.2024.2382575

This article examines the interplay of queer reproduction and private assisted reproductive technologies (ART) companies in urban China. While same-sex marriage has not gained legal recognition in mainland China and childbirth outside heterosexual marriage has been restricted, queer parents who have children through ART have gradually become visible. ART has emerged as an ideal way for Chinese queer citizens to have children, though they are not legally permitted to use ART services in domestic hospitals. Consequently, an increasing number of queer intended parents turned to underground ART businesses, with some of them becoming salespeople or business owners themselves. My ethnographic analysis comes from fieldworks conducted in Guangdong province, China, from 2018 to 2021. This paper shows that the legal and moral debates brought by queer people's use of ART are perceived differently among diverse gender and sexual groups in Chinese society. It founds that queer parents' participation in the ART industry has demonstrated the potential for queer forms of parenthood and family, while reinforcing stratified reproduction and gender inequalities. The tendency to reduce IVF/surrogacy to "womb-for-rent" business among Chinese ART businesses continues to impact queer people's reproductive and parenting rights. This paper hopes to offer insights into queer reproductive justice and reproductive technologies across the globe.