Archives
Lesbian Mothers, Gay Male Sperm Donors, and Community
Damien W Riggs
School of Psychology, University of Adelaide; National Convenor, Gay and Lesbian Issues and Psychology Interest Group, APS
Abstract
As Australian reproductive health continues to be shaped by legal and social heterosexism, lesbian women seeking to conceive are often reliant upon gay men to act as known donors. As previous legal cases demonstrate, this can result in contestations between donors and recipients that result in negative well-being outcomes for both parties, and which highlight the limitations of coalitionism within gay and lesbian communities.
Using data collected via interviews with Australian gay men who have acted as known donors, this paper examines some of the ways in which such men experience the negotiating of sperm donation, and how this is often shaped by normative assumptions surrounding lesbian parenting and reproduction.
Importantly, the findings also emphasise the positive experiences of sperm donation of some gay men. Suggestions are made for opportunities to increase the likelihood of positive outcomes for negotiations between donors and recipients, with a particular focus upon children’s rights as citizens.
see also: Riggs D (2007) Becoming parent: Lesbians, Gay men and family, PostPressed, Brisbane.
Keywords
gay sperm donors, lesbian mothers, children’s rights, family well-being, sociology
References
Arnup K and Boyd S (1995) Familial disputes? Sperm donors, lesbian mothers, and legal parenthood. In Herman D and Stychin C (eds) Legal Inversions: Lesbians: Gay Men, and the Politics of Law Temple, University Press: Philadelphia, pp.77-101.
Braun V and Clarke V (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology, Qualitative Research in Psychology 3: 77-101
Daniels KR (1991) Relationships between semen donors and their networks, Australian Social Work 44: 29-35.
Dempsey D (2004) Donor, father or parent? Conceiving paternity in the Australian Family Court, International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 18: 76-102.
Dempsey D (2005) Lesbians’ right to choose: Children’s right to know. In Grace Jones H and Kirkman M (eds) Sperm Wars: The Rights and Wrongs of Reproduction, ABC Books: Sydney, pp.185-195.
Kaye M and Tolmie J (1998) Discoursing dads: The rhetorical devices of fathers’ rights groups, Melbourne University Law Review 22:162-194.
Kelly F (2002) Redefining parenthood: Gay and lesbian families in the Family Court – the case of Re: Patrick, Australian Journal of Family Law 16: 204-226.
Moore LJ (2002) Extracting men from semen: Masculinity in scientific representations of sperm, Social Text 20: 91-117.
Riggs DW (2006) Developmentalism and the rhetoric of Best Interests of the Child: Challenging heteronormative constructions of families and parenting in foster care, Journal of GLBT Family Studies 2: 57-73.
Riggs DW (under review) Australian heterosexual and gay known sperm donors: Their motivations and beliefs, Australian Journal of Emerging Technologies.
Ripper M (2008) Australian sperm donors: Public image and private motives of gay, bi-sexual and heterosexual donors, Health Sociology Review 17(3).
Ripper M (2007) Fishing for taddies: Emotion work in lesbian’s search for sperm donors in Australia, Gay and Lesbian Issues and Psychology Review 3: 16-24.
Short L (2007) Lesbian mothers living well in the context of heterosexism and discrimination: Resources, strategies, and legislative change, Feminism and Psychology 17: 57-74.
van Reyk P (1995) Donor dads: The sperm givers’ view. In Wakeling L and Bradstock M (eds) Beyond Blood: Writings on the Lesbian and Gay Family, BlackWattle Press: Sydney, pp.8-85.
van Reyk P (2004) Baby love: Gay donor father narratives of intimacy. In Riggs DW and Walker GA (eds) Out in the Antipodes: Australian and New Zealand Perspectives on Gay and Lesbian Issues in Psychology, Brightfire Press: Perth, pp.155-176.
eContent Home