Secrets of the sperm bank (Author persists in calling these sellers "donors")

[Clark]

http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/09/25/sex_cells_interview/index.html

Secrets of the sperm bank
What do we want from a donor? An expert explains the hidden dynamics of the fertility industry
BY MANDY VAN DEVEN

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"It seems silly that this is referred to as a "donation" when people are getting paid.

Fertility is a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States. However, the idea of selling body parts makes people very uncomfortable, so the euphemistic language of donation suffuses the market for eggs and sperm. Staffers at egg agencies and sperm banks consistently use this rhetoric, even as they make profits on the sale of sex cells. Egg and sperm donors use it, even as they earn thousands of dollars for their genetic material. And recipients of sex cells use it, even as they purchase eggs and sperm in the hopes of conceiving children.

Do male and female donors react differently to their experience?

Framing paid donation as a gift or a job has profound implications for egg and sperm donors. Egg agencies are constantly thanking women for the wonderful difference they are making in the lives of recipients, so egg donors spoke with a great deal of pride about helping people have children. Some egg donors even described the money they received as a "gift" for the gift they had given. Sperm banks treat men more like employees who are expected to clock in on a regular basis, and sperm donors respond by calling the money "income" or "wages." More importantly, several of the sperm donors said they felt like "assets" or "resources" for the sperm bank, which reveals a sense of self-objectification. I didn't hear that kind of language from the egg donors, even though they are making much more money than sperm donors. These kinds of differences demonstrate the power that fertility agencies have in shaping donors' views. Framing donation as a gift or a job is not just a matter of rhetorical flourish. There are actual effects on how women and men experience the exchange of sex cells for money."

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