Podcast Episode Details
Back to Podcast Episodes
What Ethical Adoption Actually Looks Like: What You Should Know About the Business of Family-Making with Marjie Alonso
Season 5 Episode 238
Save 10% on your next Fleshlight with promo code 10PRIVATE at fleshlight.com.
For the 238th episode of Private Parts Unknown, host Courtney Kocak welcomes adoptive mother and writer Marjie Alonso.
In this interview, Marjie unpacks what ethical adoption actually looks like—and why the familiar “better life” narrative so often obscures power imbalances, secrecy, and profound loss. Drawing from her experience adopting two sons from Paraguay and later taking them back to meet their birth mothers, she explains the concept of the primal wound, how adoption can impact adoptees (and everyone involved) across a lifetime, and why infertility or loss is not, on its own, a reason to adopt. We dig into the hidden economics of adoption, the business of family-making, and how a system built around demand can slide into coercion and trafficking.
Marjie also speaks candidly about reckoning with her own choices, what she wishes she had understood earlier, and why flipping the script—from “adults who want children” to “children who need families”—is essential to imagining a more ethical future for adoption.
For more from today's guest, Marjie Alonso:
- Subscribe to Marjie Substack piecesofstring.substack.com
- Follow Marjie on Bluesky bsky.app/profile/marjie.bsky.social
Get your copy of Girl Gone Wild from Bookshop.org or Amazon.
Psst, Courtney has an 0nIyFan$, which is a horny way to support the show: https://linktr.ee/cocopeepshow
Private Parts Unknown is a proud member of the Pleasure Podcast network. This episode is brought to you by:
- VB Health offers doctor-formulated sexual health supplements designed to elevate your sex life. Their lineup includes Soaking Wet, a blend of vitamins and probiotics that support vaginal health; Load Boost, which promotes male fertility and enhances semen volume and taste; and Drive Boost, formulated to increase libido and sexual desire for all genders. Visit vb.health and use code PRIVATE for 10% off.
- Our Sponsor, FLESHLIGHT, can help you reach new heights with your self-pleasure. Fleshlight is the #1 selling male sex toy in the world. Looking for your next pocket pal? Save 10% on your next Fleshlight with Promo Code: 10PRIVATE at fleshlight.com.
- STDCheck.com is the leader in reliable and affordable lab-based STD testing. Just go to ppupod.com, click STDCheck, and use code Private to get $10 off your next STI test.
- Explore yourself and say yes to self-pleasure with Lovehoney. Save 15% off your next favorite toy from Lovehoney when you go to lovehoney.com and enter code AFF-PRIVATE at checkout.
- https://linktr.ee/PrivatePartsUnknownAds
If you love this episode, please leave us a 5-star rating and sexy review!
Published on 1 week ago