Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T08:07:00.170Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 11 - ‘Spunkles’, Donors, and Fathers

Men, Trans/Masculine, and Non-Binary People’s Accounts of Sperm Donors and Their Relationships to Children

from Part II - Children’s and Adults’ Lived Experiences in Diverse Donor-Linked Families

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2023

Fiona Kelly
Affiliation:
La Trobe University, Victoria
Deborah Dempsey
Affiliation:
Swinburne University of Technology, Victoria
Adrienne Byrt
Affiliation:
Swinburne University of Technology, Victoria
Get access

Summary

Growing numbers of men, trans/masculine, and non-binary people are bearing children, some of whom utilise known donor sperm to conceive. How this diverse population understands the role of known donors has, to date, received little attention. This chapter focuses on nine individuals who used known donor sperm to conceive, drawn from a larger international study of 51 men, trans/masculine, or non-binary people who were gestational parents. The participants discuss the role of donors in their children’s lives, exploring topics such as identifying potential donors, the incorporation (or not) of donors into existing kinship narratives, and the need to create opportunities for children to negotiate their own relationships with donors in the future. The findings highlight the potentially unique social scripting needs of men, trans/masculine, and non-binary people who conceive using donor sperm. The chapter concludes by providing suggestions for how this diverse group of people may be assisted in developing these unique social scripts.

Type
Chapter
Information
Donor-Linked Families in the Digital Age
Relatedness and Regulation
, pp. 192 - 208
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barnes, L. W. (2014). Conceiving Masculinity: Male Infertility, Medicine, and Identity. Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Bartholomaeus, C., & Riggs, D. W. (2020). Transgender and non-binary Australians’ experiences with healthcare professionals in relation to fertility preservation. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 22(2), 129145. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2019.1580388Google Scholar
Blumer, M. L., Ansara, Y. G., & Watson, C. M. (2013). Cisgenderism in family therapy: How everyday clinical practices can delegitimize people’s gender self-designations. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 24(4), 267285. https://doi.org/10.1080/08975353.2013.849551Google Scholar
Bonan, S., Chapel‐Lardic, E., Rosenblum, O., Dudkiewicz‐Sibony, C., Chamouard, L., Wolf, J. P., … & Drouineaud, V. (2021). Characteristics and intentions of heterosexual couples comprising a transgender man awaiting sperm donation to conceive a child. Andrology, 9(6), 17991807. https://doi-org/10.1111/andr.13103Google Scholar
Califia, P. (2000, 20 June). Family values. The Village Voice. Retrieved from www.villagevoice.com/2000/06/20/family-values/Google Scholar
Charter, R., Ussher, J. M., Perz, J., & Robinson, K. (2018). The transgender parent: Experiences and constructions of pregnancy and parenthood for transgender men in Australia. International Journal of Transgenderism, 19(1), 6477. https://doi.org/10.1080/15532739.2017.1399496CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connell, R. (1995). Masculinities. Polity Press.Google Scholar
Dempsey, D., Nordqvist, P., & Kelly, F. (2021). Beyond secrecy and openness: Telling a relational story about children’s best interests in donor-conceived families. BioSocieties, 17(1), 527–548. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41292-021-00225-9Google Scholar
Epstein, R. (2018). Space invaders: Queer and trans bodies in fertility clinics. Sexualities, 21(7), 10391058. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460717720365Google Scholar
Fausto-Sterling, A. (2000). Sexing the Body. Basic Books.Google Scholar
Gagnon, J. & Simon, W. (1973). Sexual Conduct. Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Gill, R., Henwood, K., & McLean, C. (2005). Body projects and the regulation of normative masculinity. Body & Society, 11(1), 3762. https://doi.org/10.1177/1357034X05049849Google Scholar
Goedeke, S., & Payne, D. (2010). A qualitative study of New Zealand fertility counsellors’ roles and practices regarding embryo donation. Human Reproduction, 25(11), 28212828. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deq233Google Scholar
James-Abra, S., Tarasoff, L. A., Green, D., Epstein, R., Anderson, S., Marvel, S., … & Ross, L. E. (2015). Trans people’s experiences with assisted reproduction services: A qualitative study. Human Reproduction, 30(6), 13651374. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dev087Google Scholar
Lampe, N. M., Carter, S. K., & Sumerau, J. E. (2019). Continuity and change in gender frames: The case of transgender reproduction. Gender & Society, 33(6), 865887. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243219857979Google Scholar
Lothstein, L. M. (1988). Female-to-male transsexuals who have delivered and reared their children. Annals of Sex Research, 1(1), 151166.Google Scholar
Moore, L. J. (2008). Sperm Counts: Overcome by Man’s Most Precious Fluid. New York University Press.Google Scholar
Nordqvist, P. (2021). Telling reproductive stories: Social scripts, relationality and donor conception. Sociology, 55(4), 677695. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038520981860CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearce, R., & White, F. R. (2019). Beyond the pregnant man: Representing trans pregnancy in A Deal With The Universe. Feminist Media Studies, 19(5), 764767. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2019.1630925Google Scholar
Riggs, D.W. (2013). Transgender men’s self-representations of bearing children post-transition. In Green, F. & Friedman, M. (Eds.), Chasing Rainbows: Exploring Gender Fluid Parenting Practices (pp. 6271). Demeter Press.Google Scholar
Riggs, D.W. (2014). What makes a man? Thomas Beattie, embodiment, and ‘mundane transphobia’. Feminism and Psychology, 24, 157171. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353514526221CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riggs, D.W., Pearce, R., Pfeffer, C.A., Hines, S., Ray White, F., & Ruspini, E. (2020). Men, trans/masculine, and non-binary people’s experiences of pregnancy loss: An international qualitative study. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-020-03166-6CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Riggs, D. W., Pfeffer, C. A., Pearce, R., Hines, S., & White, F. R. (2021). Men, trans/masculine, and non-binary people negotiating conception: normative resistance and inventive pragmatism. International Journal of Transgender Health, 22(1–2), 617. https://doi.org/10.1080/15532739.2020.1808554Google Scholar
Von Doussa, H., Beauchamp, J., Goldner, S., & Zipper, B. (2021). Reflections and (un) learnings on supporting transgender and gender diverse people and their families in a mental health family service new to this work. Psychotherapy and Counselling Journal of Australia, 8(2). https://pacja.org.au/2020/12/reflections-and-unlearnings-on-supporting-transgender-and-gender-diverse-people-and-their-families-in-a-mental-health-family-service-new-to-this-work-2/Google Scholar
Wallace, J. (2010). The manly art of pregnancy. In Bornstein, K. & Bergman, S. Bear (Eds.), Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation (pp. 188–94). Seal Press.Google Scholar
Weston, K. (1997). Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, Kinship. Columbia University Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×