The biopolitics of transnational commercial gestational surrogacy in Mimi (2021)

ABSTRACT

The study examines the Bollywood movie, Mimi, to unravel the systemic and structural exploitation of surrogates in the transnational commercial gestational surrogacy (TCGS) markets in India. The movie unpacks TCGS as a site of neoliberal eugenics and state-led biopolitics where the privileged white intended bioconsumers commission bodies of less-privileged women of the Global South. The complex hierarchical power relationship between the wealthy intended parents and the surrogates is explored through a framework of biopolitics to indicate the monetisation of surrogate life within the capitalist governmentality that treats bodies as commodities.

KEYWORDS:

• Transnational commercial gestational surrogacy
• India
• Bollywood
• biopolitics
• Global South

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Eva Sharma

Eva Sharma is a research scholar in the School of Languages and Literature, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, UT of J&K, India. Her research interests include health humanities with a specific focus on gender, surrogacy, ART, neoliberalism and biopolitics.

Isha Malhotra

Isha Malhotra (PhD, University of Jammu, India, 2019) is an Assistant Professor and Head in the School of Languages and Literature, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, UT of J&K, India. Her research interests include cultural studies with a specific focus on gender, neoliberalism and biopolitics.