Germaine Greer attacks Elton John and "wife" David Furnish

Germaine Greer has criticised Elton John and David Furnish for listing themselves as both the mother and father of their two sons on their birth certificates.

The Australian feminist author and academic said the pair’s actions demonstrated how the concept of motherhood was “gone”, before criticising IVF, the method by which their two children – four-year-old Zachary and two-year-old Eljah – were conceived.

Speaking at the literary Hay Festival over the weekend (May 24), 76-year-old: “Sometimes I think that really the problem is the concept of motherhood, which we can’t give any real structure to.

“Sir Elton John and his ‘wife’ David Furnish have entered on the birth certificate of their two sons that David Furnish is the mother. I’m sorry. That will give you an idea of how the concept of motherhood has emptied out. It’s gone. It’s been deconstructed.”

Ms Greer went on to criticise the process of IVF, saying: “We now have a ‘genetic’ mother, who supplies eggs. It depends entirely on where she is if she is going to be allowed to know what happens to the eggs. And women tend to care.

“An egg is not a sperm, we do not produce 400million of them in one go. One miserable little egg pops every month.

“Then they give you follicle stimulating hormones and you have seventeen or something [eggs] and they give you cut price IVF and distribute the rest of your eggs where they see fit.

“In some places you are allowed to know what happens to them, in other places you are not. What you get is a reduced bill for IVF because a child is being born by the people involved using your eggs.

“I’m sorry. Did we talk about this? Did we sit down and talk about what eggs mean to women?”

Earlier this year, The Female Eunuch author courted controversy after saying that transphobia “doesn’t exist”, adding: “I always wanted to be a Jew, but I can’t be”.

Greer’s condemnation of IVF and Sir Elton’s family come just weeks after Italian designers Dolce & Gabbana spoke oout against gay adoption and “synthetic children”, prompting Elton to call for a boycott of the D&G brand.

The 68-year-old wrote in response to the pair’s comments: “How dare you refer to my beautiful children as ‘synthetic’. And shame on you for wagging your judgemental little fingers at IVF – a miracle that has allowed legions of loving people, both straight and gay, to fulfil their dream of having children.”

Meanwhile, it was recently announced that the legendary singer’s life will be turned into a West End musical – click here to find out more.

Germaine Greer attacks Elton John and “wife” David Furnish

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