Intimate Strangers

<p><b>Zooming in on commercial surrogacy in Russia and Ukraine </b><b><i>Intimate Strangers</i></b><b> addresses market expansion into the intimate spheres of life that play out on women's bodies as mothers and workers. </b>Veronika Siegl follows the inner workings of a surrogacy market marked by secrecy distrust and anonymous business relationships. She explores intended mothers' anxious struggles for a child in light of stigmatized infertility and the aggressive biopolitics of motherhood; the uncertain but pragmatic pathways in and out of fertility clinics as surrogates navigate harsh economic realities and resist being objectified or morally judged; and the powerful role of agents and doctors who have found a profitable niche in nurturing and facilitating other people's existential hopes. <i>Intimate Strangers</i> discusses these issues against the backdrop of ultra-conservatism and moral governance in Russia the rising international popularity of the Ukrainian surrogacy market and the pervasiveness of neo-liberal ideologies and individualized notions of reproductive freedom.</p>