The Chick or The Egg

"The New York Times Magazine" recently ran a cover story that blew my mind. It involved websites displaying photos of available college girl cuties and high-end agencies charging outrageous amounts for Asian and Jewish chicks – and all of this perfectly legal! Why? Well, it seems the college kids weren’t selling their bodies metaphorically (which, of course, is prostitution and illegal) but literally, which is, of course, perfectly legal in the Upside-down States of America. The girls just have to sell specific body parts (gametes), call it egg “donation” (never mind that the “donation” requires a payment somewhere between four to fifteen grand for the girl, let alone agency and other assorted costs) and cater to infertile rich white chicks rather than virile rich white guys. Strangely, Peggy Orenstein, the author of “Your Gamete, Myself” didn’t conduct a single interview with an egg giver, just with the hopeful gestational mothers. But then maybe she was afraid some smart Harvard donor would sweep all the excuses and euphemisms, the “altruism” and “gifts of life” aside, so that the plain and simple business transaction – not unlike that of the oldest pre-technological profession in the world – would emerge like a baby chick from its broken egg.