April 13, 2007
An Incomplete Life? Penelope Cruz on Adoption
Yes, people, Penelope Cruz has entered the world of adoption and her quote from a recent interview is a bit troubling (read People).
"Of course I want to have kids," Cruz, 32, tells the Spanish edition of Marie Claire in its April issue. "I want to have my own kids, but also adopt. For a while I've had the feeling that my life won't be complete if I don't adopt."
I should probably be blogging about Don Imus's racist remarks about the Rutgers Women's Basketball team or, more immediate and proximal, about the STILL PRESENT PASTS exhibit opening on Saturday. Instead, I am writing about Ms. Cruz. Alas.
It is an interesting rhetoric to say one's life would be incomplete without adoption. It reminds me of the imagery of pregnancy invoked and employed by some people who choose to adopt (click here but please do NOT buy!).
As H. David Kirk emphasized many years ago, it is critical for adoptive families to not try to deny differences between biological families and adoptive families. Worse still, families who adopt and elect to use the bio-birth narrative are willingly or unwillingly falling into the dominant discourse that adoption is inferior and therefore attempting to gain legitimacy through fallacious reasoning.
The notion that one's life is incomplete without adoption is a strange one. Adoption certainly is a common human practice that has existed since (likely) early humanity. It is a means of individual and collective survival. My concern is that by portraying it as special or unique, it regulates the experience to a sideshow. It is the opposite of what some may intend to do. Adoption happens. It is a part of human survival and collective living.
What compels Ms. Cruz to make such a comment? Is she trying to portray herself as a humanitarian? As a godsend to some child? Maybe she just chose the wrong words to describe her desire to start a family. It definitely came across as privileged and entitled. Regardless of her intention, the message that it sends is that adoption is not normal and she is clearly special to have such an innate calling.
Posted by richlee at April 13, 2007 10:07 AM