Romancing the sperm : shifting biopolitics and the making of modern families
by Diane Tober
Language: English
New Brunswick, Camden, and Newark, New Jersey : Rutgers University Press, [2019].
xv, 220 pages ; 23 cm.
ISBN: 0813590787 ; 0813590795
Summary: The 1990s marked a new era in family formation. Increased access to donor sperm enabled single women and lesbian couples to create their families on their own terms, outside the bounds of heterosexual married relationships. However, emerging "alternative" families were not without social and political controversy. Women who chose to have children without male partners faced many challenges in their quest to have children. Despite current wider social acceptance of single people and same sex couples becoming parents, many of these challenges continue. In Romancing the Sperm, Diane Tober explores the intersections between sperm donation and the broader social and political environment in which "modern families" are created and regulated. Through tangible and intimate stories, this book provides a captivating read for anyone interested in family and kinship, genetics and eugenics, and how ever-expanding assisted reproductive technologies continue to redefine what it means to be human.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Romancing-Sperm-Shifting-Biopolitics-Families/dp/0813590795
Subjects:
- Artificial insemination -- Social aspects
- Families
- Single mothers
- Lesbian mothers
- Human reproductive technology -- Social aspects
Random families : genetic strangers, sperm donor siblings, and the creation of new kin
by Rosanna Hertz; Margaret K. Nelson
Language: English
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2019].
296 p. : il. ; 24 cm.
ISBN: 9780190888275 ; 019088827X
Summary: The ready availability of donated sperm and eggs has made possible an entirely new form of family. Children of the same donor and their families, with the help of the internet, can now locate each other and make contact. Sometimes this network of families forms meaningful connections that blossom into longstanding groups and close friendships. This book is about unprecedented families that have grown up at the intersection of new reproductive technologies, social media and the human desire for belonging. Random Families asks: Do shared genes make you a family? What do couples do when they discover that their children share half their DNA with a dozen or more other offspring from the same sperm donor? What do kids find in common with their donor siblings? What becomes of these chance networks once parents and donor siblings find one another? Based on over 350 interviews with children (ages 10-28) and their parents from all over the U.S., Random Families chronicles the chain of choices that couples and single mothers make from what donor to use to how to participate (or not) in donor sibling networks. Children reveal their understanding of a donor, the donor's spot on the family tree and the meaning of their donor siblings. Through rich first-person accounts of network membership, the book illustrates how these extraordinary relationships -- woven from bits of online information and shared genetic ties -- are transformed into new possibilities for kinship.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Random-Families-Strangers-Siblings-Creation/dp/019088827X/
Subjects:
- Kinship
- Families
- Human reproductive technology -- Social aspects -- United States
- Children of sperm donors -- United States
The new kinship : constructing donor-conceived families
by Naomi R. Cahn
Language: English
New York : New York University Press, 2013.
x, 242 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
ISBN: 9780814772034 ; 081477203X
Summary: No federal law in the United States requires that egg or sperm donors or recipients exchange any information with the offspring that result from the donation. Donors typically enter into contracts with fertility clinics or sperm banks which promise them anonymity. The parents may know the donor’s hair color, height, IQ, college, and profession; they may even have heard the donor’s voice. But they don’t know the donor’s name, medical history, or other information that might play a key role in a child’s development. And, until recently, donor-conceived offspring typically didn’t know that one of their biological parents was a donor. But the secrecy surrounding the use of donor eggs and sperm is changing. And as it does, increasing numbers of parents and donor-conceived offspring are searching for others who share the same biological heritage. When donors, recipients, and “donor kids” find each other, they create new forms of families that exist outside of the law. The New Kinship details how families are made and how bonds are created between families in the brave new world of reproductive technology. Naomi Cahn, a nationally-recognized expert on reproductive technology and the law, shows how these new kinship bonds dramatically exemplify the ongoing cultural change in how we think about family. The issues Cahn explores in this book will resonate with anyone—and everyone—who has struggled with questions of how to define themselves in connection with their own biological, legal, or social families.
Available: http://nyupress.org/books/9780814772034/
