celebrity adoption

Seriously. If i see another photo of Angelina Jolie in the newspaper I am going to scream. Sure, she's great and all blah blah blah for selflessly 'rescuing' all those poor unforunate children in the developing world (*tongue firmly planted in cheek*) but I am so sick of celebrity mothers being upheld as the freaking gold standard of parenting.

What I find really disturbing now is that all these Hollywood celebrities are jumping on the procreative bandwagon and embarking on a gestational journey to countries where poverty is rife and the children are ripe for the picking. Have you noticed how no one ever talks about Shiloh (Angelina's 'biological' child) anymore because her 'rainbow children' are so much more 'exotic'? Even Jessica Simpson is saying that she wants to adopt a child in the spirit of Madonna and Angelina. I just read the other day that Daryl Hannah wants to adopt a child from the US (because apparently American babies need saving).

Then I saw this interview in USA Today with Katherine Heigl who plays Izzy on Grey's Anatomy. Starring in a new movie called Knocked Up, Heigl had this to say about becoming a mother:

Q: Your Knocked Up character has a truly gruesome birthing scene. And you were in the delivery room with your older sister, Meg. That at all impact your decision to have kids of your own?

A: Oh, yeah. I've always planned to adopt anyway, but that definitely reinforced my want to. I'm done with the whole idea of having my own children. (It) doesn't seem like any fun. I don't think it's necessary to go through all of that.

Now, I am absolutely not judging anyone by implying that if you dont actually birth a child somehow that makes you less of a woman or the child is not really your own or that women should want to have children in general. Heigl's statement bothers me because it is so symptomatic of our culture that positions pregnancy and birth as disgusting or grotesque or awful. For celebrities, it's alot easier to just adopt because then they dont have to go through the anxiety of 'losing their bodies' like every other woman in the world who becomes a mother.

For full interview see:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-05-20-katherine-heigl_N.htm