Substitution gestation: The family in the discussions of the Brazilian written media

Abstract

Objective: to understand the different positions of the subject attributed to the family in the substitution gestation process. Method: documentary-type qualitative research, based on Cultural Studies, in the post-structuralism field, based on Michel Foucault’s discourse and statement tools. For such, there were analyzed discourses published in the Brazilian written media, between September and December in the year 2016, on subjects who experienced the substitution gestation. Results: The speeches point out that the biological parents should monitor and control gestation. They emphasize that the cares with the baby, especially maternal breastfeeding, must be accompanied by the father and realized by the biological mother. Another point is that such technology makes it possible to experience the position of culturally constituted father and mother for the subjects who wish to have children. The discourses reinforce distinct roles for biological father and mother and surrogate mothers, presented as happy with this family formation. The statements divide, distribute and order the roles of motherhood between the two mothers in order in order to naturalize the substitution gestation. To this end, they reinforce the discourses on maternal breastfeeding and emphasize the medicalization of the female body in the substitution gestation. Conclusion: the substitution gestation was recognized as a distinct conception form, but reinforce that it does not entail another maternity form. The media are concerned with demonstrating the rituals that assist in the constitution of maternal and paternal subjects, in order to teach ways of living this gestation. Therefore, experiencing the substitution gestation is one of the possibilities for constituting a family.