Commodification of Teen Girls and the Negotiation of Their Fates through Heart Gallery Descriptions
Commodification of Teen Girls and the Negotiation of Their Fates through Heart Gallery Descriptions
Jocie Osika
In an attempt to increase adoption rates of harder to place children, governments and organizations have turned to the internet, photolisting and describing children in what has been termed as “heart galleries.” This paper examines negotiative language in the heart gallery descriptions of teenage girls at the intersection of gendered familial roles, human commodification, and the American foster and adoption system. Through investigation of the structure, content, and language of such descriptions, the marketlike structure of the American adoption system and some of the ways in which it interacts with morality and gender are revealed. Heart gallery profiles, written by adults for an audience of adults, routinely negotiate between what a child can offer a family and what they need in return. In the case of teen girls, this paper’s close reading indicates that promises related to traditionally feminine emotional and physical labor through childcare, cooking, chores, general helpfulness, and physical beauty are juxtaposed with requirements of potential families as a tactic for increasing the likelihood of successful adoption. This examination of heart galleries under the framework of the adoption system as a marketplace calls into question the moral implications of heart gallery listings and whether they do more harm than good.
5 Comments »
Leave a Reply
-
Archives
- April 2022 (20)
- April 2021 (14)
- April 2020 (22)
- April 2019 (15)
- April 2018 (15)
- April 2017 (25)
- April 2016 (22)
- April 2015 (30)
- April 2014 (19)
- April 2013 (23)
- April 2012 (15)
- April 2011 (19)
-
Categories
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
Language and Societies 
This is such an original topic and something I didn’t know about previously! But I’d love to learn more about what you discovered in these “heart galleries” and how they potentially reinforce both societal gender norms and this idea of “commodification”.
Of course! Maybe we can talk about it sometime, or you can read the paper if you want!
Wow…I am sort of at a loss for words…or maybe the right words. This is a totally new concept to me that seems, well honestly…really creepy and weird! I think it is especially weird because you mention these are “ads” written about children, for adults, by adults. That seems extremely wrong on so many levels and to commodify children in this way is nuts to me. Especially when thinking about young girls who are “advertised” in a way that plays up traditional gender roles…what if they don’t fit into that norm? I am sure that is extremely hard on them, emotionally and psychologically. Anyways, I would love to read your paper and see exactly what your figured out from your research.
Wow…I am sort of at a loss for words…or maybe the right words. This is a totally new concept to me that seems, well honestly…really creepy and weird! I think it is especially weird because you mention these are “ads” written about children, for adults, by adults. That seems extremely wrong on so many levels and to commodify children in this way is nuts to me. Especially when thinking about young girls who are “advertised” in a way that plays up traditional gender roles…what if they don’t fit into that norm? I am sure that is extremely hard on them, emotionally and psychologically. Anyways, I would love to read your paper and see exactly what your figured out from your research.
I agree with Virginia, this concept is very interesting, yet at the same time disturbing. I don’t know why I am surprised the pervasive commodification of women has infiltrated the adoption system. It seems as if our consumer culture has even affected this social interaction, via ideas of “how can this child bring value into my home?” The framing a girls usefulness via prevailing gender norms makes me wonder, what do boys have to ‘offer’ an adoptive family? Are they more or less likely to be adopted than girls do to this framing of usefulness?