a follow up

I had an interesting week with the last post.  I had many people view the post but only 2 commented-- 1 positive, 1 person commented predatorily, (I'm making that a word), yes it was very negative, ... I would have published the comment that was submitted 4 times because the purpose of writing the post was to incite conversation but rather than address the conversation this particular respondent attacked my character.  I wasn't offended by the article in question, as my respondent assumed but I was playing the "devil's advocate" or more specifically the "adoption advocate".   

I did find a post about "adoptism" on another blog which refers to an article posted on the PACT website.  The simple point is that adoption has prejudice attached to it, be it good or bad.  And, well I know that it is the job of a reporter to report the facts, we all know that facts get left out everyday.  We don't know how tall the child in the article is, or his race or what kind of shoes he was wearing, because these are facts that are not important for this article.

Our language in everyday life and in the media changes over time.  Thanks in part to Gloria Steinem, women are no longer referred to using masculine pronouns. Imagine all the terms that used to appear in the paper referring to different racial groups.  They make me cower.  I know it is hard to keep up with the latest politically correct phrases of the day.  It can get so crazy sometimes that it can almost be humorous, like this article.  Thankfully our language is not static --what would we do without our peeps, bushisms or texting, we would just be grunting and groaning at each other about who gets first dibs on the fresh kill. 

Semantics maybe, but if it is going to affect my beautiful daughter's image of herself I am going to try to affect the change needed to help her stand tall and proud of who she is, where she came from, and how she became a part of our family.  Not only do I want her to be proud of being adopted I want to help her cope with questions and learn when that information is important and when it is not.

Comments

[Tami]

I wanted to commend you on your blog about the media misperception on adoption.
As a member of the media, I have to admit it has me puzzled. I honestly don't know why we have the 'need' to make the distinction between biological and adoptive children. I have fought for a long time within the establishment to try to change the perception...with some success. Honestly, I think most of the time it is an innocent mistake...someone just isn't taking the time to think about what they are writing. They're just putting the facts on paper. But it's sad that in these days of political correctness, we can't get past the idea that a child's relationship with their parent is different just because they are adopted.
As the mom of three great kids I never think about them as being adopted. They are my children...the same as if I had given birth to them. I couldn't love them any more if I had spent 20 hours in the delivery room! I just had to spend 20 hours in airports and on airplanes to go find them. They just came to us through different means.
Unfortunately I don't think all of the blame can be put on the media. Part of my job early on in my career in newspaper (I've worked in T.V. as well) was to do the obituaries. I don't know how many times obits were submitted that made the adoption distinction as well...and these by families who had seen the joys of adoption!
I don't pretend to have all the answers to changing people's perception about adoption, but I do know it begins with honest discussions like the one you have started here.