Ron's Angels

It's perfectly legal to sell donor eggs to infertile couples. But Ron Harris, an erotic photographer, proposed taking this process one step further. He established a website called Ronsangels.com at which nubile supermodels auctioned off their eggs to the highest bidders.

The concept sent shudders of horror down the spines of the members of the infertility industry.

News of the website was broken by reporter Carey Goldberg of the New York Times on October 23, 1999. In her words, the website melded "Darwin-based eugenics, Playboy-style sensibilities and eBay-type commerce." A wave of press attention followed.

Suspicions were finally raised when other reporters noticed that no bids were being logged on the site, and that over half the supposed egg donors were also employed as models at Harris's other business, a pornographic website called Eroticboxoffice.com.

It turned out that no eggs were being sold. The online egg auction was just a publicity stunt designed to attract visitors to Harris's real business, which was the pornography site.

References/Further Reading:

• Ronsangels.com
• "A cry of conception deception/ Critics say web site hawking Models' eggs" Boston Globe (October 26, 1999)
• Carey Goldberg, "ON WEB, MODELS AUCTION THEIR EGGS TO BIDDERS FOR BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN," New York Times (October 23, 1999)
• "Yes, We Have no egg auctions," TheStandard.com (October 27, 1999)

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Text copyright © 2002 Alex Boese