SOCIOCULTURAL IMPLICATIONS OF BABY F ACTORY IN THE SOCIETY (USING THE FARM' BY JOANES RAMOS AS CASE STUDY)

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1Background of the Study The pronatalistic nature of the traditional African society means that procreation is invaluable, and infertility is viewed as a disability and a loss of something though invisible, but so tangible with attendant psychological and emotional challenges. African womanhood is fulfilled through motherhood that also cements her place in the family and society. Pregnancy is celebrated in Nigeria, as much as in other African countries. Pregnant women move around with joy in the community displaying their fertility. Passively and actively, her delivery is awaited at the end of gestation by the community. The pronatalistic nature of the traditional African society means that procreation is invaluable, and infertility is viewed as a disability and a loss of something though invisible, but so tangible with attendant psychological and emotional challenges. But in a situation where unmarried woman, lady or teenager get unwanted pregnancy, the social cultural institution frowns at it. Consequently, some religious organizations, like the Catholic Women Organization, adopted some punitive measures against their members whose daughters were impregnated before marriage. Girls found to be pregnant were either chased out of their homes by their parents, or in some cases, ran out on their own to roam the street without food and shelter. Vulnerable and helpless, they were often victims of unsafe abortion. The pitiable state in which these girls often found themselves moved some religious men and women with the thought of providing homes for them, hence the “compassionate or needy homes.” Unfortunately, this attempt to give physical and psychological protections to unwed pregnant girls through “needy homes” has generated a new phenomenon known as “baby factory”. Baby factory, also known as child harvesting, is the organized selling of human children, mostly for adoption by families in the developing world, but also for other reasons, such as human trafficking. The concept refers to a broad range of contexts, including various levels of economic, social, and physical coercion. Baby factories or baby farms are terms used to describe child harvesting projects or the places where they take place. One of the most recent sex trafficking issues in Nigeria is the discovery of a baby factory. It is the practice of using underage girls and young people as a means of income by having them impregnated and restricted during their pregnancy before they give birth to babies who are then sold. It is a criminal enterprise committed by sex traffickers who confine their captives, some of whom have unwanted pregnancies, at a location before they give birth to kids who are marketed or unlawfully adopted (under the pretext of running a charitable organization). According to Masako (2-5), a baby factory has three characteristics that set it apart from previous forms of child trafficking. The goal of trafficking, how babies are trafficked, and the players engaged in trafficking are all discussed. The aim of establishing a baby factory by those involved is to market babies to unmarried couples who choose to raise them. The pregnant girls are reported to have been held in the hospital before they gave birth, during which the doctor or trafficker who kept the babies for sale would pay them off. Pregnant women come in a variety of shapes and sizes. One is a situation in which desperate teens with expected pregnancies, fearful of social exclusion, are drawn to a clinic and coerced to hand over their kids. Another group of young women who are motivated by extreme poverty to rent out their wombs and volunteer as much as biologically practicable for the manufacture of for-sale infants. As a result, a baby factory is a site that is set aside specifically for the purpose of commercially reproducing babies with people (women) who actively or unwillingly participate in the operation. This is not just a quest for money by heartless females but also a criminal act that has socio-cultural implications on the moral values of society. This promotes modernized slavery, loss of value for womanhood, abuse and violence against child rights and the perpetuates human trafficking. Therefore, it is upon this premise that this study is set to examine the sociocultural implications of baby factories in society. 1.2 Statement of problem Infertility is a global public health problem affecting up to one third of couples in some parts of the world. Several African cultures like the Igbos and Yorubas of Southern Nigeria place high social value on procreation, and the inability to conceive can often result in severe psychosocial stress for couples. As a result, couples are willing to go to great lengths to achieve the social status of parenthood. Treatment for infertility can be a long and often expensive process, outside of the economic possibility of many couples. Also, the success rate of ‘‘conventional-’’ assisted reproductive techniques (ARTs) like in vitro fertilization (IVF) is still generally low. As such, alternative methods like adoption and surrogacy may be the only options. Surrogacy is the practice of having a woman carry or have a child on behalf of another. Due to the social stigma associated with infertility, many infertile women in Nigeria do not opt for adoption or surrogacy. For example, a study in Nigeria found that religious leaders (both Christian and Muslim) do not approve of surrogacy as a form of procreation. Therefore, they are pursued in a more clandestine fashion. This has contributed to the illegal formation of baby factories that constitute a new trend of human trafficking in Nigeria and are beginning to proliferate and thrive. The victims of baby factories are young women and girls whose newborns are sold upon delivery to a third party. Potentially, baby factories may also involve trafficking of these infants if their buyers are exploiters, which makes this crime distinct from previously known child trafficking crimes around the world, targeting mainly peri-pubertal children (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 14). A careful reading of The Farm' by Joanne Ramos is a clear manifestation of baby factory and in westernized language depicts commercial surrogacy. Commercial surrogacy is the birthing of another woman’s baby in exchange for cash. It is an act of benevolence or of exploitation, but no matter what the motive be, It commodifies life, and it is a moral outrage. It reduces women to vessels, turning their bodies, and babies, into merchandise. According Joane, “So many factors — gender, race, religion, class — may determine where you come down on the surrogacy debate. Perhaps you have heard disturbing tales about “baby factories” in India or Ukraine. Or maybe you have read uplifting profiles of women who call surrogacy the most meaningful job they have done”. Joanne Ramos plays with many of these notions in her debut novel, “The Farm,” which imagines what might happen were surrogacy taken to its high-capitalist extreme. The titular “farm” is Golden Oaks, a “gestational retreat” in upstate New York that caters to the ultra-rich. The concept is that Clients pay for Hosts to carry their children; those Hosts, selected via a rigorous vetting process, move into Golden Oaks for the duration of their pregnancies. There, they are surveilled, pampered — 24/7, to ensure that the (very expensive) unborn children they’re incubating will reach maximum potential. In exchange for their service, Hosts receive a modest stipend and, upon successful delivery, a big owl’ bonus is given to the carrier. Thus it is a win-win for everyone!. At the heart of “The Farm” are four women through whom Ramos creates a group portrait of female striving, for survival, for status, for purpose. Each has her own reasons for chasing the dollar, and each will sacrifice something vital — health, dignity, family and freedom to obtain it. While infertility among couples (who are wiling to buy children at all cost) is the underlying factor that promotes surrogacy and baby factory in Nigeria, it worthy to note that the implication of these form of criminality has a significant socio-cultural implications ranging from commodification of babies, dehumanization of womanhood, human trafficking, child abuse, prostitution, proliferation of criminal syndicates, loss of cultural values and deepening of moral decadence. Therefore it is against this backdrop that this study is set to examine the Socio-cultural implications of baby factory in the society. 1.3 Aim of Study The main focus of this study will be on an investigation of socio-cultural implications of baby factory on the society. Specifically it seeks 1. To examine the concept of baby factory 2. To investigate factors that promotes baby factory business in Nigeria 3. To determine the socio-cultural implication of baby factory in Nigeria 4. To proffer recommendation to eliminating the rate of baby factories. 1.4 Scope of the Study The scope of this study will discuss the concept of baby factory; it will discuss factors that propagates baby factory business; it will discuss baby factors as an instrument of exploitation and commodification. It will discuss the implication of baby factory ranging from socio-cultural to it emotional and psychological impacts. It will discuss commercial surrogacy as major theme in Joan Ramos’ The Farm as key factor that promotes baby factory business. 1.5 Research Methodology Research methodology is the specific procedures or techniques used to identify, select, process, and analyze information about a topic. In this research, the methodology section allows the reader to critically evaluate a study’s overall validity and reliability. The methodology section answers will answer two main questions: How was the data collected or generated? How was it analyzed? Data Collection: This research will be based on secondary data. The materials for this study will be sourced mostly from written works from libraries and archives which will include: text books, articles, journals and publications relevant for the study. Data analysis: The analysis of data will be Qualitative and descriptive. It will also adopt a situational approach in the data collected was examined to avoid going out of context.Also, thematic analysis method will be used to analyze patterns in the data that are more important to the study.Thematic analysis is a method of analyzing qualitative data. It is usually applied to a set of texts, such as literature or transcripts. The researcher closely examines the data to identify common themes – topics, ideas and patterns of meaning that come up repeatedly (Jack Caulfield 2019). 1.6 Theoretical framework The study will adopt Emile Durkheim’s Anomie Theory. Emile Durkheim in his ground-breaking understanding of crime within societies argue that deviance becomes a norm and is birth when normative and structural regulatory measures are ineffective within societies. Durkheim as a functionalist agrees that crime is unavoidable within society, hence, it is a functional part of it structural existence but caution must be taken not to begin to perceive crime as preferable.Anomie was a concept introduced to sociology by Emile Durkheim to mean normlessness; an upheaval in social values often associated with rapid social change and lack of order.Anomie as a theoretical perspective is very important in conceptualizing the menace of baby factories in Nigeria. Alfred et al. (82-90) found that extreme poverty and illiteracy are promulgating influencer of baby factories, providing veritable platforms for mothers in these camps to give up their babies for money as most of the girls and women haven immense need for money without adequate legal source become easy prey for operators of the baby factories. They also opined that greed is a motivating factor for these baby factories in Nigeria, as most of the clients resell these babies at lump sum to barren women in diaspora and very few people buy babies for ritual purposes. So as Ritzer (5) points out, deviance often take the form of alternative, unacceptable, and sometimes illegitimate means of achieving socially approved goals. Thus the Nigerian society celebrates wealth meanwhile poverty is rife among it citizenry, it culturally and religiously emphasizes child bearing and the same time stigmatizes barrenness without recognizing the increasing number of couples struggling to have children. The availability of patrons and clients for baby factories fuels the business to boom. 1.7 Author's Biodata JOANNE RAMOS Joanne Ramos was born in the Philippines and moved to Wisconsin when she was six. She graduated with a B.A from Princeton University. After working in investment banking and private-equity investing for several years, she became a staff writer at The Economist. She lives in New York City with her husband and three children. The Farm is a 2019 novel by the Filipino-American writer. The debut novel was published on May 7, 2019 by Random House. It is set in a fictional facility named Golden Oaks, also called "The Farm", where women serve as surrogates for wealthy clients. The novel switches between four perspectives of the women involved, including Jane Reyes, Evelyn "Ate" Arroyo, Reagan McCarthy, and Mae Yu. The idea for the novel struck Ramos when she came across a magazine advert for surrogacy services in India. The characters in the book were partly inspired by the many Filipina domestic workers she met who shared her ethnic background but lacked the opportunities she herself had. The book has been widely compared to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. The Farm received mostly positive reviews upon its release. The novel was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for "Outstanding Literary Work-Debut Author",as well as long-listed for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. It was chosen as a "must-read novel" by various publications such as O, The Oprah Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and New York Magazine.