Romancing the sperm : shifting biopolitics and the making of modern families

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. "The 1990s marked a new era in family formation. Increased access to donor sperm enabled single women and lesbian couples to create 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. Doctors and insurance companies often served as the gatekeepers, enforcing traditional notions of family by restricting access to reproductive health services to straight married couples. Most sperm banks also had strict policies barring unmarried women from purchasing sperm. In response, some feminist-run sperm banks emerged to intentionally fill this gap--to provide services to all, regardless of marital status, gender identity, or sexual orientation. In Romancing the Sperm, Diane Tober explores the intersections between sperm donation and the broader social and polticial environment in which "modern families" are created and regulated. Through intimate stories from intended mothers and sperm donors, and fieldwork in sperm repositories, 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 a family"--Back cover Cover 1 Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Preface 10 1. Murphy Brown and the Lesbian Baby Boom 20 2. Technologies and Politics of Reproduction 33 3. Semen to Go: Choosing Conception Alternatively 49 4. Semen Transactions: Donor Screening and the Regulation of Sexuality 70 5. Grassroots Eugenics and the Fantasy Donor 90 6. Semen as Gift, Semen as Goods: Reproductive Workers and the Market in Altruism 105 7. From “Old Eggs” to “Odysseus’s Journey”: The Phenomenology of Infertility 124 8. What’s Alternative about Family? 148 9. From Murphy Brown to Modern Families 176 10. Conclusion: Toward a New BioPoliTechs of Emerging Families 204 Afterword 212 Acknowledgments 214 Notes 218 References 222 Index 234 About the Author 240 Murphy Brown And The Lesbian Baby Boom -- Technologies And Politics Of Reproduction -- Semen To Go: Choosing Conception Alternatively -- Semen Transactions: Donor Screening And The Regulation Of Sexuality -- Grass Roots Eugenics And The Fantasy Donor -- Semen As Gift, Semen As Goods: Reproductive Workers And The Market In -- Altruism -- From Old Eggs To Odysseus' Journey-the Phenomenology Of Infertility -- What's Alternative About Family? -- From Murphy Brown To Modern Families -- Conclusion: Towards A New Biopolitechs Of Emerging Families