Kin: Family in the 21st Century

‘Here’s an exercise: Take a piece of paper. Grab a pen, pencil, crayon – any drawing utensil within reach. Now, draw a typical family …’

The shape of family has changed in the 21st century. While the nuclear family still exists, there are many more types of kinship that surround us.

Kin is an investigation into the ways we choose, or choose not, to have children today. It delves into the experiences of couples without children, single parents by choice, rainbow families, and investigates the impacts of adoption, sperm donation, IVF and surrogacy, and the potential for a future of designer babies. Assisted-reproductive technology has developed quickly, and the ways in which we think and speak about its implications – both legally and ethically – need to catch up.

Written by journalist Marina Kamenev, Kin: Family in the 21st century is an incisive and powerful look at how families are created today, and how they might be created in the future.