Eliminating the Undesirables

France Winddance Twine discusses in Outsourcing the Womb that many people have turned to overseas surrogacy.  Twine points out that many poor and uneducated women have no choice but to become surrogate mothers. Twine also briefly mentions sperm and egg donor qualifications and regulations in the U.S and in chapter 4, she states that commercial egg and sperm markets choose applicants based on their physical and social characteristics. (Twine 33) Kindle version

In the United States, which is a relatively unregulated market, the fees that egg donors are paid vary according to their experience and their level of education, with first-time egg donors earning the least ($ 4,000) and experienced and well-educated egg donors earning substantially more ($ 6,000) (Twine 32).

Twine makes it clear that overseas surrogate mothers are forced into surrogacy because of their lack of income and remarkably, this seems to be the opposite for egg and sperm donors. She also points out that only the economically privileged can afford fertility treatments. (Twine 8) Surprisingly, eligible sperm and egg donors are also part of the economically privileged. There appears to be an effort to eliminate undesirable traits. These traits include homosexuality and unintelligence.

The requirements needed to become a sperm and egg donor are extensive and do not apply to most. Sperm and egg donors are required to have a certain height and weight, good health, higher education, and opposite sex partners.

In 2005, the FDA released guidelines that discouraged homosexual men from donating sperm.

The Guidance for Industry: Eligibility Determination for Donors of Human Cells, Tissues, and Cellular and Tissue-Based Products states:

List[s] of conditions and behaviors that increase the donor’s relevant communicable disease risk. Except as noted in this section, and in accordance with § 1271.75(d), you should determine to be ineligible any potential donor who exhibits one or more of the following conditions or behaviors.

1.  Men who have had sex with another man in the preceding 5 years (Refs. 17 through 46) (risk factor for HIV and Hepatitis B).

According to the FDA, this provision is an effort to protect mothers from contracting HIV. Many sperm banks follow the FDA regulation even though they are not mandatory.  It’s surprising that these regulations are being followed despite the procedures sperm banks take to ensure that sperm is free of infectious disease. Once sperm is donated it is tested for sexually transmitted diseases, frozen for at least 6 months and then tested again for STDs. Since 2005, many gay-right’s activists have pointed out that this provision is not based on any really scientific evidence and instead are based on bigotry.

 

Education was the other requirement that stood out. Usually egg and sperm donors are required to have some form of higher education. In the 1980s, Robert K. Graham, a businessman known for inventing shatterproof eyeglasses, started Repository for Germinal Choice, a sperm bank that chose its donors based on intellectual achievement. Aside from intellectual competence, good looks, height, weight, and good genetic history have always been requirements for sperm donors.

These requirements exclude traits that are seen undesirable by sperm banks. These qualifications are reminiscent of eugenics. Only people who have these desirable traits are selected to reproduce.  By demanding higher education and heterosexuality in applicants, unintelligence and homosexuality are marked as undesirable. Additionally, those who cannot afford a college education are often minorities and part of the working class. These groups are also excluded. Various questions such as:

What about the rest of us? Are we worthless without these characteristics? Are we worthy of reproducing?Do I qualify as an egg donor?  According to these qualifications, no one in my family, my self-included, would be eligible because we have traits that are undesirable.

http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/Tissue/ucm073964.htm

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4655231

Gentrification: Pushing Out the Working Class

In chapter four of Revolting bodies?, The Struggle to Redefine Fat Identity, Kathleen LeBesco mentions suggests that  a fat person reveals that the American Dream is a fabrication. The American Dream is the belief that anyone can achieve wealth regardless of his or her social class. LeBesco mentions:

Today, the socioeconomically advantaged are the only ones with enough time free from the ravages of wage labor and enough money to invest in personal trainers and pricey gym memberships to be able to cultivate the corps du jour— toned and supple, with a dangerously low percentage of body fat.

As LeBesco states, only the economically stable are able to afford the thin body. The brings forth plenty of questions such as:Is working class able to afford nutritious food? Can the working class afford personal trainers and gym memberships? Does the working class have time to exercise? Are there resources for the working class to obtain all of these at a low cost?

Therefore, being “fat” is deeply rooted in the economics of American government. Grocery stores such as Whole Foods that sell organic food are a prime example of how nutritious food is expensive.

The politics of obesity is specifically seen in gentrified cities where cost of living affects the working class. There are numerous cities such as Washington D.C., Detroit, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles that have been gentrified and the victims of gentrification are the working class.  I have personally seen this in the city where I used to live, Santa Ana, CA.  All these cities feature high costs of living and low resources and their working class citizens are victims of the vicious cycle of gentrification.

Santa Ana, CA is located in Orange County, one of the wealthiest counties in the country, and its population is 78.2 % Hispanic with an obesity percentage of 46.5%. Recently a program has developed to help educate citizens about healthy lifestyles by providing free exercise course, free cooking classes, and low cost medical help.  This program helps citizens of Santa Ana access resources are usually not available to the working class but it does not help fix the source of the problem: gentrification. Gentrification pushes the poor by raising property value, and reaches out to wealthier citizens by selling property at low prices.

As a former citizen, I have seen up to four families living in one home in order to be able to afford rent. Citizens who were once owned small business in the downtown area where pushed out by high rent prices in order to bring in high-end boutiques and bars. Not only did this affect the business owners, it also affected the citizens who once relied on those businesses to buy affordable clothes and food. With cost of living at its highest, citizens are struggling to buy food; not just healthy food but food in general. Being thin is not on the mind of these citizens instead they are struggling to provide their families with basic necessities. 

 Gentrification is a vicious cycle that pushes out the working class, who work hard and get nowhere. LeBesco mentions that“ failed consumers, ethnic Others, the working poor—flunk their citizenship tests, rendering them the citizens profane of contemporary American culture“ and this population is a victim of the American economy. The fat body is a reflection of  the unattainable American Dream. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgJ87khal_s
http://www.publichealthadvocacy.org/research/overweightdocs2012/Overweight_Orange%20County%20fact%20sheet.pdf