A Case of Maternal Lust
December 31, 2010
HERE is one of the most extreme cases of maternal lust ever recorded by The New York Times, which specializes in the subject, regularly valorizing the female eunuchs who exploit laboratory science and human beings in their greedy, promiscuous, unimpeded efforts to reproduce. Melanie Thernstrom, a successful, middle-aged author, contracts with one female donor for eggs (that’s human eggs) and with two other women for gestational services. These two surrogates simultaneously carry to term the artificially conceived offspring. Here we have the apotheosis of liberal reproduction. The collective conceives. The village gives birth.
Melanie takes her emotional temperature every five minutes during this process. This is not about the miracle of life. The actors in this drama, even the babies, are co-stars. This is about Melanie. This is the sentimental odyssey of Melanie, a modern-day, liberal narcissist navigating the straits of her own desires. Never once does Melanie pause. Never once does she imagine. She appears indifferent to the effects of her own desires on others, especially the effects on the children involved, the offspring of paid contractual agreements who have been callously and deliberately deprived of their biological mothers by a woman who was too busy to conceive when she was young and fertile.
— Comments —
Karen I. writes:
It is interesting that this mother gave pleasing her younger husband as a main reason for going ahead with the increasingly twisted plots to get a child. She readily admits she was afraid she might lose him if she did not give him a child because having a child was important to him. So, this article was more about paternal lust than maternal lust. The man married an older woman, who was at an age where we all know fertility can be problematic. Then, he apparently pressured her to have a child at any cost, even when it became clear she could not.
It seems to me several problems with our society came into play here, not the least of which was the specter of divorce on demand if a wife could not perform the impossible. It seems to me the mother was driven by desperation, not maternal lust, and I suspect she would still be childless and more or less happy with that if not for her husband, who looks so out of shape for his age in the photos that one wonders if he wasn’t part of the fertility problem to begin with.
Laura writes:
I agree it was about his desires too and her desire for a relationship with a younger man. She says, “I was haunted by the thought that if we didn’t have children — even though he loved me and even though that love might blind him to the truth — in some sense marrying me would have turned out to be a mistake.” But she seemed to be the driving force behind their choices.
She admits to having had a “gazillion not-quite-right relationships.” She is an attractive woman. There is not an ounce of shame at having spent twenty years playing the field.
N.W. writes:
The most disturbing part about the whole article was the little fairy tale she tacked on at the end. It reminded me of the “other mother” from Coraline, the “Belle Dame.”
Jesse Powell writes:
On the subject of paternal lust and abusing reproductive technologies I caught an interesting exchange at The Spearhead, a men’s site. This exchange took place yesterday in the “Happy New Year!” thread:
red army faction (version north america) December 31, 2010 at 14:29
“My little ones” LOL!! I suppose it’s easy for certain men to dump on marriage and women when they already have children, i.e. genetic continuance, or immortality. But for those men who desire children and a meaningful life purpose, there are few alternatives other than women. WTF do we do now? Buy a puppy?
Paradoxotaur December 31, 2010 at 16:17
Dear RAF,
As has been explained before-
1) go to an egg bank
2) use IVF to produce YOUR embryos
3) implant one or more of your embryos into a surrogate mother(s)
4) raise YOUR children as a single father, like millions of single fathers are raising theirs. If anyone trys to give you s#!t about being a single father, just point out all the social programs endorsing single parenting (well, at least endorsing single motherhood), and explain to them that you’re doing this in order to free a woman from the burdens of motherhood.
It’s cheaper than a wedding, and waaaaaaayyyyyy cheaper than a divorce (plus, you’d probably be removed from your children’s lives in a divorce, damaging both them and you).
I hope you get to experience the joys of fatherhood (hopefully, without the misery of husbandhood).
Just goes to show, without any regulations or apparent social condemnation on how reproductive technology can be used, men can intentionally create sub-optimal environments for children to satisfy their own selfish preferences, in this case the desire to avoid marriage with a woman.
I find it odd that Paradoxotaur expresses concern that a possible future divorce might harm the child and views this potential harm that comes from marriage as a justification for deliberately creating a motherless child. Statistically, on average, children born to single mothers are worse off than the children of divorced parents so deliberately inflicting single parenthood upon a child is definitely a worse sin than possibly exposing a child to the divorce of their parents at some point in the future.
Dan R. writes:
As soon as I saw the name, I wondered, and wouldn’t you know it that this “extreme case of maternal lust” is the daughter of prominent neo-conservatives. According to Wikipedia, Melanie Thernstrom, the author of two books and a frequent contributor to the Times, is the daughter of Abigail Thernstrom, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and Stephan Thernstrom, a Harvard professor of American history and neoconservative thinker.
How fitting, it seems, after reading Lawrence Auster’s series on the “homosexualization of the military,” a development which was greeted with support by many neo-cons. The traditional family is not getting much help from those who are viewed as its allies.
Laura writes:
Melanie Thernstrom has written two books about famous murders. Both she and her husband, Michael Callahan, are graduates of Harvard. Here is their wedding announcement in the Times. It begins:
Melanie Thernstrom and Michael Callahan were married last evening at the Harvard Club in New York. The ceremony was performed by Cynthia Baughman, the bride’s best friend, who became a minister of the Rose Ministries for the event.
George writes:
Thi sis from the Rose Ministries website:
Rose Ministries is a non-denominational ministry committed to the rights of the individual to experience the divine according to their own personal beliefs.
John states, in the New testament, that “you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”
We believe women have the same right to be ordained as men. (See Judges for supporting scripture.)
As a minister ordained by Rose Ministries you can start your own church, officiate at weddings, or conduct any religious ceremony. Whether for a single ceremony or as a business, ordination grants you the full rights and privileges accorded ministers and priests of any major religion.
With the credentials granted as part of your Rose Ministries ordination, you can legally provide all manner of religious services, and form a church, as a full or part-time business. You can qualify for tax-free status, and even accept money for your services.
Click here to select your ordination package.
