Egg donors and sperm donors: parental identity formation

2018 ◽  
pp. 63-76
Author(s):  
Mali Mann ◽  
Andrea Mann
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Sperm Donors ◽  
Egg Donors ◽  
Parental Identity

Who Counts as Family? Gamete donation and the construction of family forms in medical markets

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 831-852
Author(s):  
Laura Halcomb
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Gamete Donation ◽  
Egg Banks ◽  
Sperm Donors ◽  
Egg Donors ◽  
Medical Markets ◽  
Third Party Reproduction ◽  
Qualitative Analyses

This paper examines how gender beliefs are embedded in the organizational practices of the reproductive market. Third party reproduction blurs boundaries between familial and non-familial members, making gamete banks and donation agencies important sites for studying the construction of family. Cultural beliefs about gender are implicated in the discourses and practices of these organizations, which shape and constrain the experiences and options for both gamete donors and recipient families. To evaluate this process, I conducted qualitative analyses on the recruitment materials of all of sperm banks, egg banks, and egg donation agencies in the United States. My analysis demonstrates that the reproductive market still relies on heteronormative assumptions of family. However, the extent to which these organizations facilitate participation in new, non-normative family forms breaks down along gendered lines, where sperm donors have more freedom, status, and potential to create relationships with recipient families than egg donors.

scholarly journals The ‘Selfish Element’: How Sperm and Egg Donors Construct Plausibly Moral Accounts of the Decision to Donate

Sociology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003803852110331
Author(s):  
Leah Gilman
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Moral Self ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Sperm Donors ◽  
Selfish Element ◽  
Egg Donors ◽  
Sociological Studies ◽  
The Way

Multiple sociological studies have demonstrated how talk of ‘good’ motives enables people to maintain the presentation of a moral self in the context of stigmatised behaviours. Far fewer have examined why people sometimes describe acting for the ‘wrong reasons’ or choose to qualify, or reject, assumptions that they are motivated by a desire to ‘do good’. In this article, I analyse one such situation: sperm donors who describe being partially motivated by a ‘selfish’ desire to procreate, a motive which these same men frame as morally questionable. I argue that such accounts are explicable if we consider the (gendered) interactional and cultural contexts in which they are produced, particularly the way interactive contexts shape the desirability and achievability of plausibility and authenticity. I suggest that analysis of similar social phenomena can support sociologists in better understanding the complex ways in which moral practices are woven into social interactions.

scholarly journals Tożsamościowe wyzwania kobiet sprawujących opiekę nad dzieckiem w związkach jednopłciowych w świetle koncepcji Vivienne Cass

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 217-244
Author(s):  
Jowita Wycisk Jowita Wycisk
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Extensive Discussion ◽  
Sexual Orientation Identity ◽  
Parental Identity ◽  
And Bisexual ◽  
Bisexual Identity

Development of the contemporary post-industrial society entails the increasing diversity of family life models. People, making individual choices in this field, face new challenges related to identity formation. In the text presented this issue is discussed on the example of women bringing up children in same-sex relationships. The article presents basic information on the same-sex parenting, underlines the importance of the idea of identity integration in psychology and stresses the lack of contiguity between theories of parental identity development and these ones of homosexual and bisexual identity development. An extensive discussion of the Vivienne Cass’s theory of sexual orientation identity development is the basis for the approximation of potential discrepancies in the identity system of non-heterosexual women taking parental roles. Two main factors relevant to the processes of identity formation were distinguished: the order of the development of the sexual orientation identity and parental identity (the planned and reconstructed families differ in this regard) and the way of establishing and maintaining the relationship with the child (other challenges are faced by biological and social mothers). In the summary, questions requiring future empirical exploration were notified.

Whom Do We Belong To? Parentage and the Law

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna L. Grossman ◽  
Lawrence M. Friedman
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Insemination ◽  
Single Women ◽  
Reproductive Technology ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
Sperm Donors ◽  
Egg Donors ◽  
Infertile Couples ◽  
Biological Parenthood

This chapter examines further challenges to the traditional family by exploring expanded definitions of legal parentage. It considers advances in reproductive technology, such as in-vitro fertilization and artificial insemination, to say nothing of the use of sperm donors, egg donors, and gestational surrogates. With so many options made available, biological parenthood is now open to infertile couples, single women, and same-sex couples. But these changes challenge the traditional rules of parentage. Family law has thus been forced to adapt to a world in which babies can be made without sex and with ties to multiple adults, whether married or not.

scholarly journals How good it would be to turn back time: Adult attachment and perfectionism in mothers and their relationships with the processes of parental identity formation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konrad Piotrowski
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Identity Commitment ◽  
Parental Identity ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Reconsideration Of Commitment

In the present study the relationships between dimensions of parental identity (commitment, in-depth exploration, reconsideration of commitment), romantic adult attachment (anxiety and avoidance in a relationship) and perfectionism (self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed) were analyzed. 206 mothers aged 22 to 40 participated in the study (M = 33.33, SD = 3.68). The results revealed that both adult attachment and perfectionism correlate with parental identity. In particular, attachment-related anxiety and other-oriented perfectionism can be treated as independent, specific predictors of an increased crisis of parental identity, manifested in low identification with the role of the parent and in regret of becoming one. The article discusses theoretical and practical implications of the research and suggestions for further studies.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document