JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY

2019, VOL. 66, NO. 5, 609–634

https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2017.1422947

“Wealthy Gay Couples Buying Babies Produced in India by

Poor Womb-Women: Audience Interpretations of
Transnational Surrogacy in TV News
a b
Rafael Ventura, MA , Xosé Ramón Rodríguez-Polo, PhD , and Carles Roca-
Cuberes, PhD a
a
Department of Communication, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain; bDepartment of
Communication and Sociology, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Surrogacy is beginning to generate public debate, and the way Surrogacy; gay parenting;
the media approach it may have negative effects on social women’s commodification;
attitudes toward gay parenting. The news media play a key outsourcing pregnancy;
role in informing society, especially about topics such as sur- media audience; framing
effects; attitudes formation
rogacy, of which most audiences have no direct experience.
The aim of our research is to explore opinion formation of
surrogacy and gay parenting by analyzing the audience inter-
pretation of a TV news story in Spain. To do this we conducted
four focus groups that were analyzed using a qualitative con-
tent analysis based on the discourse produced by the partici-
pants. The results show that the framing strategies used in the
news story contribute to advocating an attitude of repudiation
toward surrogacy, with an adverse sentiment also extending to
homosexual couples who wish to become parents. This leads
us to discuss the role of media in shaping public opinion and
the resulting potential consequences in the case of surrogacy
and gay parenting.

Attitudes toward homosexuality reveal a growing acceptance worldwide (Kite

& Bryant-Lees, 2016; Pew Research Center, 2013, 2017; Twenge, Sherman, &
Wells, 2016), mainly due to the progressive endorsement of LGBTQ rights
and the legal recognition of same-sex marriage (Hooghe & Meeusen, 2013).
However, the same cannot be said when other components of gay men’s lives
enter the discussion, one of which is parenting. According to contemporary
studies, the majority of Western societies are in favor of same-sex marriages
but remain resistant to same-sex parenting (EOS Gallup Europe, 2003; Gato
& Fontaine, 2016; Webb, Chonody, & Kavanagh, 2017). Results have shown
that gay male parenting provokes more negative attitudes than lesbian
parenting, and it is also linked with negative opinions on reproductive
techniques (Ioverno et al., 2017). Gay parenting and the means to achieve
it are triggering public debate. To become parents, many gay couples (also

CONTACT Rafael Ventura [email protected] Department of Communication, Universitat Pompeu

Fabra, Roc Boronat, 138, Barcelona 08018, Spain.
© 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
610 R. VENTURA ET AL.

heterosexual couples and singles) resort to surrogacy, an assisted reproduc-

tion technique, on which there is as yet no clear social position
(Constantinidis & Cook, 2012; Norton, Hudson, & Culley, 2013;
Wennberg, Rodriguez-Wallberg, Milsom, & Brännström, 2016). This is due
largely to the general population’s unfamiliarity with the technique, added to
a lack of interpersonal contact with same-sex parented families (Costa,
Pereira, & Leal, 2015).
The media play an important role in shaping audience perception and
judgment of social concerns, particularly in issues of which the general public
has insufficient knowledge or no direct experience (Dowler, 2003; Happer &
Philo, 2013). In our study we focus on the social attitudes formed by
television news programs in Spain regarding the use of surrogacy, specifically
by homosexual couples. While TV news programs may aim to produce
objective and informative content, they also construct discourses about
reality that might lead to the promoting of certain normative practices. The
framing effects are important in our study, as the way in which a certain
piece of information is framed influences the perception of the audience
about the meanings attributed to the narrated elements and, therefore, in
their behavior or attitudes toward them.

The debate around surrogates: Human vessels or solidarity women?

We understand surrogacy as the process by which a woman gestates a baby
on behalf of prospective parent(s) who cannot carry a pregnancy to term
without help, whether these are single individuals or couples, heterosexual or
homosexual. In the process, the egg is fertilized through in vitro fertilization
(IVF) and then placed in the surrogate’s womb. There are two types of
surrogacy: traditional (or genetic) surrogacy and gestational surrogacy. In
traditional surrogacy, the surrogate’s own egg is fertilized by the intended
father’s sperm, making her the genetic mother. In gestational surrogacy, the
egg is provided by the intended mother or a donor, whereby the surrogate
has no genetic connection to the child. In both cases the intention is that the
baby born through this technique becomes the son or daughter of the
prospective parent(s), and the surrogate will not be the mother of the baby
to which she gives birth. This is established by a prior agreement between the
parties involved, that is, the woman who will be carrying and giving birth to
the baby (surrogate) and the person or people who will be the parent(s) of
the baby. The agreement is usually handled through an agency acting as an
intermediary. There are, therefore, two types of surrogacy agreements
depending on the nature of its retribution: in altruistic surrogacy a woman
volunteers to carry a pregnancy for intended parent(s) while gaining no
monetary profit in return beyond reimbursement of expenses associated
with pregnancy and birth. Commercial surrogacy, in contrast, has a profit-
 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY 611

making purpose, and the surrogate, in addition to pregnancy-related

expenses, receives monetary compensation for her services.
There is significant open debate around the use of surrogacy, with
opinions strongly in favor or against, regarding regulating or prohibiting
it. In Spain there are various platforms that support its legalization
(formed mainly by people who have achieved their family through surro-
gacy or who wish to do so) and associations linked to the LGBT move-
ment that also back it. However, the most vociferously against are certain
feminist groups and pro-family organizations closely tied to the Catholic
Church. This is one of the few debates in which feminism and the
Catholic Church coincide. Nevertheless, the feminist position centers on
an ethical position, strongly criticizing exploitation of a woman’s body.
They maintain that a woman’s body cannot be hired out, either partially
or totally, and they believe that surrogacy is not an assisted reproduction
technique but an example of “extreme obstetric violence” (Larrañeta,
2016). Meanwhile, the pro-family collective takes a moral stance in favor
of the traditional social construct of the family, i.e., they reject any
technique that entails the dissociation of husband and wife and claim
that the child must “be conceived, carried in the womb, brought into
the world and brought up within [heterosexual] marriage” (Ratzinger,
1987).
The major opposing viewpoints can be divided into arguments on welfare,
exploitation, and commodification (Humbyrd, 2009). However, the complex-
ity of surrogacy is also surrounded by issues such as neocolonialism, trans-
nationality, women’s oppression, neoliberalism, and heteronormative
routines of reproduction (DasGupta & Dasgupta, 2014).
One of the major concerns regarding surrogacy is welfare. Those who
oppose it believe that it may damage the child or the surrogate—the “harm
argument” (Agnafors, 2014). This argument puts forward the prejudicial
consequences of surrogacy and the potential effects that the entire process,
and in particular the handing over of the baby, may have on the surrogates,
their family members, as well as the babies themselves (Tieu, 2009). Apart
from the significant health cost involved for pregnant women, academic
research indicates that the only major complications of surrogacy are ethical
or legal (Brinsden, 2003). More specifically, most of these studies on long-
term effects of surrogacy, including longitudinal studies and those conducted
in different cultural contexts, have shown that:

(1) In general, the experience of surrogacy was important and very posi-
tive for most surrogates, who were well motivated and rarely had
difficulty separating from the child. They did not express regrets
about their involvement in surrogacy, nor did they appear to experi-
ence any major psychological problems as a result of the surrogacy
612 R. VENTURA ET AL.

arrangement (Jadva, Imrie, & Golombok, 2014; Jadva, Murray, Lycett,

MacCallum, & Golombok, 2003; Lamm, 2012; MacCallum, Lycett,
Murray, Jadva, & Golombok, 2003; Ruiz-Robledillo & Moya-Albiol,
2016; Söderström-Anttila et al., 2016; van den Akker, 2003).
(2) The own children of surrogates do not experience any negative con-
sequences as a result of their mother’s decision to be a surrogate (Jadva
& Imrie, 2014).
(3) Children born by gestational surrogacy do not differ in their levels of
psychological adjustment compared to naturally conceived children
(or those conceived through egg donation); further, the absence of a
genetic and/or gestational link between parents and their child does
not have a negative impact on parent–child relationships or the psy-
chological wellbeing of mothers, fathers, or children (Bos & Van Balen,
2010; Golombok et al., 2006, 2011; Ruiz-Robledillo & Moya-Albiol,
2016; Shelton et al., 2009).
(4) The impact of disclosure is generally positive. The majority of surro-
gacy parents tell their child how they were born. Surrogacy families
maintained good relationships with the surrogate over time, and
children felt positive about their surrogate mother and their surrogacy
birth (Blake et al., 2016; Jadva, Blake, Casey, & Golombok, 2012;
Readings, Blake, Casey, Jadva, & Golombok, 2011).

The exploitation argument is the claim that commercial surrogacy is

morally objectionable because it is exploitative for women (Panitch, 2013;
Wilkinson, 2003). Feminist scholars have stated that “we cannot ignore the
fact that commercial surrogacy of maternity is fed by a feminization of
poverty and counter-geographies of globalization” (De Miguel & Nuño,
2016). This argument clearly alludes to specific cases of commercial surro-
gacy in developing countries. However, some scholars consider it a weak
argument for the banning of commercial surrogacy, since (1) employment
alternatives for potential surrogates in these countries may be even more
exploitative and damaging than paid surrogacy (Humbyrd, 2009; Wilkinson,
2003), and (2) it does not apply to every case in developed countries. These
scholars have argued that even if we accept that transnational commercial
surrogacy is often exploitative, the exploitation itself is not a direct conse-
quence of the particular practice of commercial surrogacy but rather of
neocolonialist processes (Kirby, 2014), that is, the sociopolitical, economic,
and cultural contexts between East and West that perpetuate a disparate
distribution of power and wealth.
Lastly, the commodification argument is among the most prevalent from a
feminist perspective to question the practice of surrogacy (Goslinga-Roy,
2000; Kroløkke & Pant, 2012; Pande, 2014; Scott, 2009; Twine, 2015).
Commodification is the action or process of treating something as a mere
 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY 613

product that may be bought and sold. Women’s rights activists have argued
that surrogacy is a paradigm of oppression of women, as their bodies are
reduced to mere baby-producing machines (DasGupta & Dasgupta, 2014). In
fact, this argument holds that commercial surrogacy commodifies both the
reproductive capacity of the surrogate and the rights of the newborn child,
declaring it unethical to treat human beings as resources to satisfy another
person’s own interests or ends (Orlov & Orlov, 2007). For them, wombs for
hire pose a real risk of people trafficking, similar to sexual exploitation or
organ trafficking (Pande, 2010a; Wilkinson, 2003). From this perspective,
they also have warned that this practice is laced with the eugenic notions of
genetic belonging and the genetic selection of the perfect offspring (Pande,
2016; Qadeer, 2009). In this regard, it might be understood that the commo-
dification argument is rooted in the debate about the reasons behind surro-
gacy. The commodification argument centers on whether the surrogacy is
governed by a single motivation: that of the intended parent(s) who want a
baby. Furthermore, greater emphasis is placed on the fact that it is a desire,
not a right. Under this dialectic, the surrogacy process becomes an end for
satisfying the desires and motivations of the intended parent(s) (empowered
subjects), which turns the surrogate into a vehicle at the service of others
(non-empowered, reified subject), her womb into a baby factory (commodi-
fied body), and the baby into a transaction product (commodity).
However, some authors believe the commodification argument against
surrogacy is deontological in principle (Orlov & Orlov, 2007), that is, under-
standing surrogacy as a phenomenon within the labor arena and analyzing it
from the hypothesis that its nature is grounded in duty and obligation. Thus
this scenario places surrogates as passive victims of the surrogacy process
(DasGupta & Dasgupta, 2014; Pande, 2010b; Scott, 2009). Those who argue
against, however, consider the possibility of recognizing the surrogate as an
empowered subject. Many women who have been surrogates reject the
feminist arguments, which detract agency from them as women, and instead
argue in favor of their capacity to make personal choices, to have their own
valid and legitimate motivations, and, in particular, of asserting their right to
make decisions regarding their own bodies (AGSE, 2015; Bromfield, 2016).
On this last point, the commodification argument questions whether women
are being given control over their bodies, or whether they are being exploited
for their individual body parts (Banerjee, 2010). Furthermore, feminist scho-
lars wonder whether surrogates feel freely motivated or obligated due to their
feminized poverty conditions and social status (DasGupta & Dasgupta, 2014;
De Miguel & Nuño, 2016; Deonandan, Green, & Van Beinum, 2012), and, if
freely motivated, whether this is selfless love or money (Anleu, 1992; Pande,
2011). This argument refers directly to cases of transnational commercial
surrogacy in poor countries such as India, where there is no consensus about
whether a financial incentive may be a legitimate motive or not. Nevertheless,
614 R. VENTURA ET AL.

research carried out in Western contexts has shown that the main reasons
that lead women to become surrogates are altruistic: the wish to help a
childless couple, selflessness, personal satisfaction, and enjoyment of preg-
nancy (Imrie & Jadva, 2014; Jadva et al., 2014; Kleinpeter & Hohman, 2000;
Markens, 2012; van den Akker, 2003). However, financial reasons were also
noted (Söderström-Anttila et al., 2016), especially in commercial surrogacy.

Outsourcing pregnancy: The case of India

As surrogacy is not permitted in the majority of countries (Pande, 2010a),
many intended parents resort to transnational surrogacy. Transnational
surrogacy is defined as the process of gestational surrogacy in which the
surrogate lives in a different country than the intended parent(s), whereby
the prospective parent(s) must travel to her country to undertake the surro-
gacy process (Ruiz-Robledillo & Moya-Albiol, 2016). In most cases, this lack
of ties between the parties encourages transnational surrogates to agree to
surrogacy as a commercial act, money-making motivated. In transnational
commercial surrogacy, Indian surrogates became increasingly popular among
intended parents in the last decade, especially in Western nations. Permissive
laws, an English-speaking environment, well-equipped private clinics, quali-
fied doctors, and cheaper services attracted intended parents to India
(Kumar, Inder, & Sharma, 2013; Pande, 2015; Twine, 2015). Nonetheless,
the main reason contributing to this phenomenon was the relatively low cost
of the process, particularly when compared to other places where transna-
tional commercial surrogacy is also legal and recurrent, such as California
(United States). The entire cost of the surrogacy process in the United States
is roughly between €70,000 and €130,000, whereas in India the process costs
one third of that (Bailey, 2011; Pande, 2014, 2011; Vora, 2013). This made
India the main destination for reproductive tourism (Panitch, 2013). In fact,
it became the largest provider of surrogates in the last decade (Agnafors,
2014). According to estimates, more than 25,000 babies are born through
surrogacy arrangements in India every year, at least half of them as the
offspring of Westerners (Desai, 2012; Shetty, 2012).
Feminist scholars have denounced that the growing demand of surrogates
in India has encouraged the development of a commercial surrogacy indus-
try: a growing business of reproductive tourism with negative consequences
for Indian women (Deomampo, 2013; Pande, 2015; Rudrappa & Collins,
2015). They suggest this is the result of an acceptance of a neoliberal system,
pushed to the extreme, which is manifested in the industrialization of
reproduction and the outsourcing of pregnancies (Rudrappa, 2010; Shetty,
2012; Smerdon, 2008; Twine, 2015). International outsourcing of services is a
process deployed in the neoliberal economic model in which the fulfilment of
some services, such as technical support or customer service, is moved to
 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY 615

poorer countries (the Global South) in order to cut costs (Kedia & Lahiri,
2007). This complex situation heightens the controversy surrounding
inequalities between the Global North and the Global South within the
arguments used against surrogacy: infant trafficking, commodification,
women’s oppression and exploitation, wealthy Westerners’ consumption
supplied by poor countries, and so on. Of special note are the deplorable
conditions for women in surrogacy clinics in India, described as “baby
factories” or “baby farms” where they live in overcrowded conditions with
the sole function of eating and of producing babies (Kroløkke & Pant, 2012;
Kumar et al., 2013; Riggs & Due, 2010).
However, a prohibitionist movement is now originating from Asia.
Countries such as India, Thailand, and Nepal, which have allowed this
technique for years, are starting to limit access to surrogacy in order to
protect women from exploitation. In India, for instance, the government
has recently approved a bill that bans and penalizes commercial surrogacy
services. The “Surrogacy Bill” bans gay people, foreigners, single parents, and
unmarried couples from having children through surrogacy. Some have
criticized the law, saying it takes away the rights of women, discriminates
against gay people, and could lead to an illegal industry (BBC, 2016; The
Indian Express, 2016). Meanwhile, it should be noted that commercial
surrogacy is still legal in other places, such as Ukraine or California.

The role of the media

Homosexuality is represented in Spanish media through an approach that
shows its progressive normalization, and it is generally integrated as another
element of Spain’s collective identity (Carratalá, 2011; Guasch, 2011).
However, there are new, subtle ways of maintaining a certain opposition
discourse, which is no longer situated in the etiology of homosexuality but
resituated around the practices of homosexual people. Riggs (2012), in his
analysis on how LGBT people are represented in the media, detected certain
“paradoxes of visibility.” In direct relation to a greater appearance of LGBT
people in the news, consistent renegotiations are emerging about the legit-
imate nature or the social acceptability of many of their practices. This is also
reinforced by the limited tropes available in the media and the homonorma-
tive media representations of LGBT individuals (Ng, 2013). Riggs discussed
the negative effects of homonormative representation whereby the type of
homosexual represented as legitimately valid is one that most resembles the
heterosexual. In this regard, Domínguez and Montalbán (2014) observed that
the media prefer to assimilate the experience of gay parenting in heterosexual
relationships, minimizing the presence of differential elements. Here, surro-
gacy is presented as a differentiating component, located outside the norm,
by highlighting the biological limitations of homosexual male couples and
616 R. VENTURA ET AL.

their need to seek alternatives beyond their relationship in order to become

parents (Riggs & Due, 2013). Furthermore, attribution theory puts forward
the hypothesis that heterosexuals’ attitudes toward homosexuality are more
negative when they are attributed to controllable causes (Frias-Navarro,
Monterde-i-Bort, Pascual-Soler, & Badenes-Ribera, 2015). This gives rise to
a perception that surrogacy is a controllable desire of homosexual couples,
opening the debate between rights and desires.
Research carried out to date indicates that surrogacy is generally con-
structed in the media as a social problem (Markens, 2012), framing it as a
“buying babies” process, and affordable only to well-off people (van den
Akker, Fronek, Blyth, & Frith, 2016). Despite the fact that the largest group
currently using gestational surrogacy services are heterosexual couples
(Crawshaw, Blyth, & van den Akker, 2012; Norton, Crawshaw, Hudson,
Culley, & Law, 2015), the media mainly use gay couple cases to construct
their news stories around surrogacy (van den Akker et al., 2016).
As we see, the situation is complex and involves many actors, contexts,
and factors. Nevertheless, news media, overall, fail to reflect complexities
due to their news routines (Becker & Vlad, 2009) and limit the information
through which audiences might understand these issues. Having to synthe-
size information to fit TV airtime or newspaper space may lead to journal-
istic bias (Hamilton, 2004). The agenda setting theory suggests that the
media do not reflect reality as it is, but instead filter and shape it to suit a
political agenda (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). Meanwhile, the gatekeeping
theory also plays a role in the selective processes of agenda building, since
the journalists select specific aspects and display only certain images that
confirm their own criteria in judging a specific news story, while disregard-
ing others counter to this viewpoint (Griffin, 2011; Shoemaker & Vos,
2009). This might convey a partial vision to the audience that distorts the
global reality of the issues. There has been extensive discussion as to the
extent to which the media may influence the dynamics of attitude forma-
tion by serving up only a partial picture of a complex reality (Scheufele &
Tewksbury, 2007). Three reasonings stand out in close connection to the
case study.
First, the media play a key role in informing society, especially in topics of
which audiences have no direct knowledge or personal experience (Happer &
Philo, 2013). Scholars have found that news media have more potential to
influence public opinion with media coverage of unobtrusive issues (Bryant
& Oliver, 2009), that is, issues with which people do not have direct personal
experience: “because of the lack of direct experience, individuals must rely on
mass media for information and interpretation of these issues” (Hester &
Gibson, 2007, p. 301).
Second, based on framing theory, Entman (1993) explained that to frame
is to select certain aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient
 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY 617

in a media text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition,

causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation.
That is, frames are outlines created by journalists that steer the way events
are understood and narrated. Furthermore, the initial frames of a key event
tend to determine how matters referring to the same subject will be presented
in the future (Sádaba, 2006). Shanto Iyengar (1994) explored the effects of
episodic and thematic framing. He explained that the episodic news frames
are embodied as an event-oriented report and illustrate public issues in terms
of concrete instances, removed from their context, while thematic framing
presents collective or general evidence. He found that there is a preponder-
ance of episodic frames in television news coverage. This may have two
effects on the audience: (1) reducing synecdochically the entire subject matter
to the case represented, and (2) promoting and guiding attributions of
responsibility (Iyengar, 1990).
Third, and last, the second level of agenda setting considers how the
agenda of attributes affects public opinion (McCombs & Evatt, 1995). The
terminology used to describe a particular event would be an example of
intentionally assigning attributes. For example, it is not the same to use the
concept “wombs for hire” as “surrogacy.” Likewise, the media may also
promote a public discourse of nonacceptance on a particular issue by intro-
ducing it as a social problem (Best, 2010): guiding the selection and pre-
sentation of news reports by using a frame emphasizing the negative
elements—the “problem frame” (Altheide, 1997)—drawing a picture of vic-
tims and perpetrators, and removing alternative solutions from public debate
(Happer & Philo, 2013).

Research purpose and questions

The purpose of this study is to explore attitude formation about surrogacy
and gay parenting by analyzing audience interpretation of a TV news story
in Spain. According to the barometer of the Sociological Research Centre,
86.8% of the Spanish population says it finds out about the news from the
television, compared to the press (45%) or the radio (35%) as complemen-
tary media (CIS, 2016). Television news shows are among the largest
audience programs and contain descriptions of the issues that most con-
cern Spanish society, with a global media audience of public service
broadcasters of over 8.5 million viewers, according to Kantar Media
(2016).
However, there are no significant studies about the reception or interpre-
tation of television news stories, especially on issues related to surrogacy and
gay parenting that would enable us to understand the significant contribution
of TV news in the formation of social attitudes. With a focus on a news story
618 R. VENTURA ET AL.

about gay parenting through surrogacy, the research questions addressed by

this study are:

RQ1. What are the values transmitted in the news story about surrogacy?

RQ2. How does “surrogacy” intersect with “gay parenting” in the audience
interpretation?

RQ3. Does interpretation differ according to the age of the audience?

Method
Research design and sampling
Four focus groups were constituted with between 6 and 10 participants of
Spanish nationality and of both genders (17 females and 16 males). The
groups were divided according to an age variable, since the literature
review indicated generational differences concerning the acceptance of
homosexuality and same-sex parenting (Baiocco, Nardelli, Pezzuti, &
Lingiardi, 2013; Pew Research Center, 2017). Thus two groups of adults
(40–60 years) were put together, and two of young people (20–30 years).
The focus groups were held in the two largest Spanish cities, two in
Madrid (17 participants) and two more in Barcelona (16 participants),
to provide discursive diversity based on the reference territory of the
participants. (Figure 1).
Several sociodemographic aspects were taken into account when recruiting
participants. A strong balance was maintained between the occupational
status variables (students, employed people, retired, and unemployed), and
a decision was made to prioritize a profile of secondary and university
educational level, reducing the diversity of occupations to facilitate dialogue
among participants. It was decided to split the groups into young people and
adults to detect potential differences, in accordance with previous studies that

GENDER
GROUP AGE LOCATION
Male Female

FG1 Adults Barcelona 5 5

FG2 Young people Barcelona 1 5

FG3 Adults Madrid 5 4

FG4 Young people Madrid 5 3

Figure 1. Composition and distribution of the focus groups by profiles.

 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY 619

indicated that age has an impact on attitudes toward homosexuality and gay
parenting, with elders having a stronger prejudice than those younger
(Baiocco et al., 2013; Gerhards, 2010).

Materials
In a previous study, Olga van den Akker et al. (2016) detected three
main focuses in the media framing of transnational surrogacy: gay par-
enting, legal complications, and buying babies (affordable only to wealthy
people). Susan Markens (2012) also pointed out the media fascination
with surrogacy focuses in particular on news stories about the Indian
surrogacy industry. To study the participants’ attitude formation, we
used a Spanish news story about surrogacy that included all these key
topics. The selected news story was broadcast at prime time on the
Spanish public television channel (La 1), which is the television news
program with the largest audience in Spain (Kantar Media, 2016). The
news story explained that surrogacy is illegal in Spain, and therefore
there are more and more Spanish couples traveling to other countries,
such as India, to have a child. The news anchor assures that most are
homosexual couples, and, as such, the news story is illustrated through
the case of a Spanish gay couple from Barcelona who traveled to India to
have their children in a clinic that works with Indian surrogates. In the
story, the main argument revolves around the desire of homosexual
couples to be parents and the objectifying consequences that the techni-
que of surrogacy may have on the women, who are perceived as mere
wombs for hire.
This unit of analysis, “selected on the basis of typicality, uniqueness,
success, and so forth” (Merriam, 2009, p. 41), was the perfect basis for
generating discussion about surrogacy and gay parenting. The relevance is
also evident if we consider Yin’s definition (2013, p. 18): “a case study is an
empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its
real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and
context are not clearly evident.” In fact, the case study enables a holistic
description and explanation of the phenomenon and its contextual interpre-
tation (Creswell, 2012).

Advantages of focus group research

The choice of the focus group method responds to the need to compile social
meanings around a specific topic and to understand the role media con-
sumption plays in this social process. First, unlike the survey, this qualitative
reception analysis method enables the obtaining of responses that are not
conditioned by the questions. Second, and unlike in-depth interviews, it
620 R. VENTURA ET AL.

provides for the identifying of a greater variety of perspectives of the research

topic and observing firsthand the discussion or explanation of these topics
through group interaction, encouraging comprehension beyond that of mere
description (Hennink, 2014).
In fact, by encouraging interaction between psychological configuration
and the specific social behaviors of group members through a safe environ-
ment, the focus group method encourages an appropriate spontaneity and
flexibility for exploring the topic, as well as mitigating the interviewer’s
pressure and rationalization of responses (Madriz, 2003). It is through this
interaction that the data generated take on a significant value, as they provide
for the emergence of reasons and construction modes of cultural meanings,
while, in parallel, their synergetic nature offers evidence of the degree of
consensus and diversity of opinions among participants (Morgan, 1997).
The focus group method that uses quota sampling guarantees a substantial
representativeness in line with the analytical variables considered important,
despite the fact that an analysis of the data collected—which in no way are
statistically transferable to the population as a whole—may be more complex as
they were generated in the collective dialogue through which the reality is
reconstructed.
The focus group, completed through a TV news piece, “offers a means of
investigating complex social units consisting of multiple variables of potential
importance in understanding the phenomenon” (Merriam, 2009, p. 50).
Unlike other methodological approaches, it enables a contextualization of
the media and cultural experience and further development of the interpreta-
tion and understanding of the audiences that may give rise to generalizations
in which the audience itself participates (Stake, 2011).
When carrying out the focus group sessions, nondirective strategies and a
semistructured discussion guide were deployed. The planned dynamics
evolved in two blocks: the first part of the discussion guide contained open
questions to encourage discussion among participants after viewing the
informative piece about the news story, while the second part explored in
further depth how participants perceived the media’s discursive construction
of gay parenting through surrogacy.
Once the four sessions had been carried out, the focus groups were tran-
scribed in their original language (Spanish) and then translated into English by a
professional translator. A qualitative content analytical approach was applied as
the method to examine both the explicit content of the text (manifest language
and word use) and the latent meanings (Neuendorf, 2016).

Results: Analysis
Initially, both groups of participants (adults and young people) indicated
there was a lack of data and contextual information that prevented them
 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY 621

from forming an evidence-based opinion on what was being explained in the

news.
It’s hard for me to judge, I don’t know if I’m the right person to judge these things,
I don’t know how to interpret it. Whether a womb for hire is right or not, whether
it’s the only option they have, whether it’s right, wrong, if anyone loses out,
whether it’s an obligation for a desperate woman to earn some money, whether
she’s going to be affected for the rest of her life I don’t know, I don’t know how to
interpret it, it’s really hard for me. (Male, FG3)

Even so, overall both groups agreed on rejecting surrogacy after seeing the news
program. The reason that created most repudiation was the situation of the
Indian women portrayed in the news whereby participants related to an unjust
exploitation of women in situations of poverty. However, as they made a more
detailed analysis of the news they saw a negative message about the homosexual
collective that they had not detected initially—negative, because the message the
news conveys, according to the participants, is that gays are taking advantage of
the women’s poverty in countries such as India and are behaving carelessly,
with little consideration for the conditions in which these women live and
concerned only with achieving their goal of having a baby:
You might start to think the homosexual is bad because he’s doing this.
(Female, FG2)
It’s like saying, look what gays do to become parents. (Male, FG3)
Yes, it’s true that La 1 (TV channel) is putting out the news programme with the
homosexual issue, as if to say: look what homosexuals do. . . (Male, FG2)

Meanwhile, aside from the exploitation situation, the group of young people
said that they understood the desire of homosexual couples to have a child
and the huge obstacles involved. This also occurred with a part of the group
of adults. However, unlike the group of young people, another part of the
group of adults stated that they are against the idea that homosexual couples
should have children, either by surrogacy or otherwise.
That they have kids. . . mmm the same sex, well, I’m not going to give an opinion
on that because I don’t know to what extent the child might be damaged, this is a
very, very . . .complex issue in my opinion. (Female, FG3)
Two men, I don’t think it’s natural, at least to me it’s weird, that they want to
adopt a child. (Male, FG3)

Interpretation by the young people’s group

When the participants were asked to make a spontaneous interpretation of
the news story, their initial reactions were of poor engagement. Basically,
what came across was an attitude of noninterference regarding decisions or
actions by people from other countries, declining to produce ethical or moral
evaluations of them and avoiding controversial issues. This discourse then
622 R. VENTURA ET AL.

shifted as the focus group developed, with more critical attitudes transpiring
as the debate flourished.
When discussing the news story content, participants shared the sentiment
that a partial and fragmented vision is put forward, which they interpreted as
a lack of important information. They noted that the deficit of data and
contextual information prevented them from forming a balanced opinion on
what was being explained in the news story. They blamed a lack of data that
would enable a framing of the volume of births achieved through this
method:

They don’t talk about the number of transactions every year in the embassies, or
the adoption rate in Spain or abroad, or what they think is legal or illegal, or
adoption and wombs for hire (Male, FG4)

They were also surprised by the fact that there was no reflection of the
viewpoint of the women taking part in this process, which—according to
the participants—means it is impossible to interpret properly the news story
or form an opinion about it:

What I think’s missing from this news story is what makes a woman from these
countries sell her womb, or rather her baby, I mean, there must be a story behind
this that makes her do it. (Female, FG4)

The young people in the groups also pointed out the stereotypical image of
homosexuals:

They’ve chosen them deliberately; they’re the classic case (Female, FG4).

During the discussion a change was noted in the young people’s opinion.
First of all, they evaluated the different situations that appear in the news
story: that of the homosexual parents who are adopting and that of the
mothers who are hiring out their wombs. On the one hand, they expressed
certain sympathy toward the difficulty of couples who wish to have a child
and are unable to do so due to legal obstacles, but most of all they stressed
the resulting injustice for the Indian women who chose to hire out their
wombs. They also stressed the cost of this situation for these women, both
emotionally and in terms of health.

And I think it’s a bit sad that some people who want to have a child and don’t want
to adopt have to exploit the poverty of other people in the third world, for peanuts.
Because they’re also risking the lives of these women in unhealthy conditions, all
because they want to have a child and if they can’t have one they could always
adopt. There are children who don’t have parents. . . (Male, FG2)

Other participants expressed their nonacceptance of this practice by criticiz-

ing the depravity resulting from turning maternity into a business:
 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY 623

Whether it’s gay or non-gay, wombs for hire I think is a business, and in the end
it’s a degradation of what it means to have a baby (Female, FG4).

Some participants also called the attitude of parents who decide to adopt
through this route frivolous and unnatural:
I think a womb for hire is a whim. You’ve got a partner and we all know that a
male and a female have offspring and two males don’t, you have to accept the rules
that nature enforces on you. So wanting your offspring to have part of your genes,
that’s a whim. (Male, FG4)

However, in one of the groups, as the discussion progressed, participants

began to change their minds. A more detailed analysis of the news story led
them to perceive a negative stance toward homosexuals, which they had not
picked up initially. The news story, they said, focused solely on homosexuals,
when it is highly likely that there are also heterosexual couples who choose
this process. At the end of the analysis several participants ended up stating
that the news story has a clearly biased approach that they had not seen at the
beginning:
Now that I’ve heard everyone’s opinion and having analysed the news story a bit
more in-depth, I think, yes, they have focused it on the area they want. Because
usually when you talk about wombs for hire and when you talk about poor
countries and what’s going on in India, people identify with them and will say
that ethically this isn’t right. And here I see that they have highlighted gays as well
as letting the spokesperson of an association speak about how unethical it is (. . .)
They only let one side speak and they’re trying to sell us the idea that with money
people can get what they want. (Male, FG4)

Interpretation by the group of adults

In the initial examination, the participants’ attention was captured by the fact
that there is a business behind adoption. They also underlined the arbitrari-
ness and society’s lack of values, the difference between rich and poor
countries, and the exploitation of the women who are hiring out their
wombs.
It’s as if children are a business, to start off with. There is a huge business behind
adoption; it’s a big money spinner. And the countries, I mean the ones that do
nothing, are part of it, in a way. (Male, FG1)

The news story focused solely on homosexuals, which was perceived as a

clear lack of information. The absence of references to heterosexual couples
implied it is a practice that involves only gay couples, thus painting a specific
picture of this group:
The whole time going on about gays, gays. They haven’t stopped. They must have
said it twenty thousand times (Female, FG1).
624 R. VENTURA ET AL.

During the in-depth analysis, they identified stereotypes relating to the

poverty of poor countries versus rich countries, with the situation of the
woman in poor countries, and, in particular, with the negative image of the
homosexual community. The image of the woman who hires out her womb
is intimately related to the poverty of underdeveloped countries and the
subhuman conditions in which a lot of people are living:

It shows a lot of hardship: human suffering is what it conveys (Female, FG1).

The image of the homosexual community was considered to be negatively

portrayed and clearly stereotyped—negative, because the message that the
news story transmitted, according to participants, was that gays exploit these
women’s poverty in countries such as India and are acting irresponsibly, with
no regard for the conditions in which these women live and concerned only
with achieving their goal of obtaining a child. This message is reinforced,
according to the adults in the groups, through the fact that no heterosexual
couples are portrayed and the report focuses only on homosexual couples:

They could have shown a heterosexual couple, not just mentioning them; they
could have put the example of a heterosexual couple that does these things too like
gays. It’s like saying, look what gays do to become parents. (Female, FG3)

Meanwhile, the image portrayed of the gay community was also based on a
series of stereotypes, such as how much money they have and how well they
live:

And they’re wealthy gays, because two unemployed gays for sure couldn’t pay that
(Male, FG3).

A diversity of opinions was detected among the adults. One part of the
participants stated they sympathize with a couple who wishes to have a baby
and the need to do so through surrogacy. However, another part was totally
against this kind of practice, because they consider it an abuse. Furthermore,
a number of participants were also against the fact that homosexual couples
should have children.
Those who were in favor of surrogacy had an understanding of people
who wish to adopt. Some said they knew of similar experiences to those
shown in the news program, and that when they ended up at this option, it
was because they tried all other alternatives unsuccessfully:

The thing is that the need to adopt is much stronger that what it’s going to cost
you. There are people who have taken out second mortgages to have a child
(Male, FG1).

Another argument in favor of the practice is the example of certain famous

people who have also used surrogacy, despite having a lot more resources
 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY 625

than the rest of the population. Furthermore, they said, you should consider
the future of the child adopted, who would grow up in a developed country:
The sad thing about all this is that there’s money involved, isn’t there? But then
you think about the welfare of the children, don’t you? How well they’ll be looked
after and how lucky they’ll be. (Female, FG1)

Most participants were against this practice. One of the issues that generated
the most repudiation was the situation of the Indian women portrayed in the
news.
Living in unhealthy conditions, in a state of abandonment. . . I find it hard to
accept that you want to have a child and you see how they have them all piled up
and overcrowded and then you go off with the baby and don’t think about them
any more. (Male, FG3)

The vast inequality between the conditions of the Indian women who hire
out their wombs and parents who decide to produce a child through surro-
gacy was condemned by many participants. These inequalities were perceived
as a demonstration of how developed countries abuse poor countries, which
participants described as hypocritical. Money talks, they said, even for
bypassing legislation:
You get the feeling that. . . for people with money, nothing’s a problem
(Male, FG1).

By extension, this disapproval also was demonstrated toward the people

who lend themselves to this kind of practice, and their longing to have a child
does not exempt them from criticism:
I’m not blaming so much the person who volunteers, I blame the consumer, maybe
it’s cruel to call it a product, but this is how they treat it, like a product. . . it’s
scandalous that people can be a part of this. (Male, FG3)

Lastly, one part was unconvinced about homosexual couples having children,
whether through surrogacy or not.
That they have kids. . . mmm the same sex, well, I’m not going to give an opinion
on that because I don’t know to what extent the child might be damaged, this is a
very, very . . . complex issue in my opinion. (Female, FG3)

Discussion and conclusion

Constant social renegotiations about the legitimate nature of homosexuality or
the social acceptability of many of its practices have led current media dis-
course to be oriented around homonormative representations. However, the
fact that homosexual couples resort to techniques such as surrogacy to have
children may highlight the limits established by homonormativity. The media
play a fundamental role in influencing the way an audience will interpret this
626 R. VENTURA ET AL.

issue, thus forcing a need to analyze attitudes formed by audiences. This is the
purpose of this article, and its results indicate new discourse strategies that
question the practices of homosexual people and may have negative repercus-
sions on the forming of social attitudes toward them.
When examining the news stories in the focus groups, the participants
(audience) situated their positions between the dialectics of subjects who
wish to be parents but cannot (gay couples) and other subjects who have the
capacity to help them become parents but, by doing so, may be placed in a
vulnerable situation (women as surrogates). This fact could be connected to
the agenda setting and the gatekeeper theories, as we will see next.
Both groups of participants (young people and adults) spotlighted evi-
dence that made them believe the information presented was biased. That is,
at first they detected the gatekeeper function of journalists. Even so, this did
not prevent them from forming an opinion and positioning themselves
according to their interpretation of the news story, which would be related
to the agenda setting of attributes (McCombs & Evatt, 1995).
In accordance with previous studies (Baiocco et al., 2013; Gerhards, 2010),
differences between generational groups are confirmed, indicating age as an
influential variable on attitudes toward gay parenting, with elders having a
stronger prejudice than those younger. However, no significant differences
were found between the age groups on their attitudes toward surrogacy.
After watching the news, most participants were against the practice of
surrogacy. This could be related to the theories of media (and framing)
effects. Not all actual cases of surrogacy are exploitative, but the way in
which the media frames surrogacy as an exploitative practice may affect
participants’ attitudes toward surrogacy. This conclusion is also related to
one of the issues that arose from the study by Markens (2012) of media
discourse on transnational surrogacy: “Why do the media focus on India?”
This question is particularly relevant, given that surrogacy also takes place in
many other countries where the situation of surrogates is totally different,
such as Canada. The recurring selection of images of women in dreadful
conditions (not because they are Indian, but because they live in poor
conditions) to represent surrogacy leads us to consider that the media
discourse is seeking to construct a certain positioning within the audience
through attributes related to exploitation.
By representing the situation of surrogates with examples of Indian
women in vulnerable conditions, participants automatically attributed the
responsibility of this situation to the people using the technique (“I blame the
consumer” —Male, FG3). In this regard, the fact that news on surrogacy
focuses on cases of gay families (van den Akker et al., 2016) highlights a clear
connection with the contributions of Iyengar (1990, 1994)), who found that
one of the most effective ways of guiding the attribution of responsibilities
was through episode framing. Likewise, our results also suggest that this
 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY 627

pattern of episodic framing may induce individuals to negative attitudes

toward gay couples (“Look what gays do to become parents” —Male, FG3;
“You might start to think the homosexual is bad because he’s doing this” —
Female, FG2). The homosexual is therefore represented as an oppressor of
these vulnerable subjects (“exploit the poverty of other people” —Male, FG2).
Meanwhile, the fact that participants attributed the responsibility of the
negative consequences of this phenomenon to homosexual couples still
does not reflect adequately the reality of the phenomenon. In Spain, accord-
ing to surrogacy agencies (León, 2015), around 1,400 couples decided to
become parents using this technique in 2014, of whom about 80% were
heterosexual couples. This one-sidedness of linking homosexual couples to
the adverse effects of surrogacy also means that in the ideology of the
receiver, the homosexual goes from being construed as a victim of a rigid
system (homophobic society) for being a homosexual to becoming an
oppressor of specific victims (women) for wishing to be a parent. As a result,
the situation in which the homosexual is reconverted into oppressor exposes
and unfolds a series of arguments that discredit the idea of homosexual
couples having children. First, the homosexual couple using surrogacy was
perceived in a stereotypical manner as “typical wealthy gays” (“They’re the
classic case” —Female, FG4; “They’re wealthy gays” —Male, FG3). This
feeling also reinforced the idea that their desire to become parents is a
whim (“I think a womb for hire is a whim” —Male, FG4). Second, biological
arguments were reintroduced that are counter to the possibility that two men
can have a child (“Accept the rules that nature enforces on you” —Male,
FG4), and the debate was reopened about the consequences this might have
on the children (“The child might be damaged” —Female, FG3).
Our results concur with the position identified by Markens (2012) on frames
used by media to construct and debate surrogacy discursively. According to her
findings, most media coverage on surrogacy tends to give it a particular focus as a
social problem. However, Crawshaw et al. (2012) detected an increasingly favor-
able social attitude toward surrogacy, possibly fueled by the use of surrogacy by
high-profile media celebrities, such as Ricky Martin and Nicole Kidman. This
might to a certain extent explain that adverse attitudes formed around gay
surrogacy are closely linked to the negative ways in which the news story is framed.
In any case, the power the media may exert in the formation or reinforcement of
social attitudes is notable. The ways this phenomenon is represented in the media
may influence audience perception, their forming (or reinforcing) of attitudes
about surrogacy, and their opinion when approaching the question politically.
Lastly, social opinion will be taken into account, through surveys, when establish-
ing a political debate that will lead to approving (or not) laws on surrogacy.
In this sense, it can be seen that participants used the same terminology
employed throughout the news story to refer to surrogacy (“wombs for hire”)
and build the majority of their opinions within the economic approach used
628 R. VENTURA ET AL.

in the news, with notable antagonistic connotations around the ideas of

business, consumer product, unfair trade practices, exploitation, and so on.
The emphasis on highlighting the commercial nature of the phenomenon is
closely related to the idea of promoting a particular problem definition,
causal interpretation, moral evaluation that Entman (1993) explained from
the framing theory. In this regard, the feminist claim that frames surrogacy as
a commodification of the body of a woman is staged through the media in
terms of exploitation. Nevertheless, in accordance with several scholars
(Humbyrd, 2009; Markens, 2012; Riggs, 2012), the negative consequences
of transnational surrogacy, related to the exploitation of poor women, are
more related to the neoliberal dynamics of globalization and unequal dis-
tribution of power and wealth than the practice of surrogacy itself. Wilkinson
(2003) concluded that those who oppose exploitation should concentrate on
improving the conditions under which paid surrogates “work,” or on chan-
ging the underlying conditions that generate exploitative relationships, rather
than attempting to stop particular practices such as commercial surrogacy.
The recommendation, therefore, is that international surrogacy must be
regulated, either under the form of altruistic surrogacy, or fair trade surro-
gacy. Humbyrd (2009) termed “fair trade surrogacy” as a proposed regulatory
mechanism focused on minimizing potential harm to all parties and ensuring
fair compensation for surrogates.
Lastly, situating the discussion on surrogacy within the dispute of homo-
sexual couples who wish to be parents, on the one hand, and the feminist
rejection of the commodification of a woman’s body, on the other, may have
very negative consequences for the traditional bond between the feminist
movement and the LGBT collective. As we saw in the results of our study, the
use of frames of “responsibility attribution” may fuel discriminatory attitudes
toward same-sex couple families and generate a clash between the feminist
cause and the LGBT cause, obliging the audience to adopt a position on one
of the two sides interpreted as being in dispute.

Funding
This work was supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
(Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación) for the research project “Analysis of Audiovisual
Narratives on Civilizations and Cultures: Representations and Interpretations of Television
News Narratives” (grant number CSO2011-23786).

ORCID
Rafael Ventura http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1219-9956
Xosé Ramón Rodríguez-Polo, PhD http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5637-1236
Carles Roca-Cuberes, PhD http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3604-8722
 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY 629

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