Rise of the Sperm Bro: The Touring Men Fathering Children and Undercutting the Fertility Industry

[CousinIT]

(I believe Elon Musk and Herschel Walker fancy themselves among these self-important jerks - thy both have kids all over the freaking place)

https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3ppvw/serial-sperm-donor-industry

. . .

Hooper is the founder of Sperm Donation World: a global organisation, built around an online community of donors and aspiring parents, who connect via social media platforms like Facebook and try to conceive outside the regulatory channels of fertility clinics. It’s a booming industry. Since launching in Australia in 2015, Hooper’s organisation has grown offshoot communities in Africa, New Zealand, the Philippines, the UK, and the U.S. The Australian Facebook group currently has more than 15,000 members; the American nearly 22,000.

. . .

Gordy, who has 47 children around the world and is the expectant father of a further 11, told the New Zealand Herald he was pulled aside by Fijian authorities during his layover and put on the phone to Immigration New Zealand. They told him his visa was cancelled as he wasn’t honest about the fact that he was travelling to the country to donate. He’s now been deported back to the U.S.

Hooper laughs it off and suggests that for people like him and Gordy, making enemies is par for the course.

. . .

Private sperm donation has grown into a serious cottage industry, with Hooper and Gordy among an increasing number of veritable sperm bros—men vocal in their criticism of the mainstream fertility industry, promoting alternative pathways to pregnancy online.

To some people, these voluntary donors—who’ll meet you at a bar, visit you at home, and assist you via intercourse or a cupful of cum—are biological philanthropists. To others, they’re renegades: sperm cowboys who fail to fully appreciate the potential ripple effects that might flow in their wake.

[musette_sf]

1. ew.

that is all

[MuseRider]

2. Maybe I do not get this but

since when did we ever have to pay men for their sperm?

It is cheap, everywhere and you will likely end up getting some whether you want it or not.

[roamer65]

3. It should be banned.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

7. I think that's ridiculous

Why should it be?

[Lochloosa]

14. Why?

[roamer65]

24. Public health.

STDs.

They mention intercourse in the article.

…and simply we don’t need the extra CO2 emitters.

[meadowlander]

25. Consensual sex isn't banned in New Zealand.

Why ban it based on the intentions of the people having it? And how on earth are you going to enforce that?

If someone gives informed consent to have sex with a stranger for the purposes of having a "no strings attached" pregnancy then the risk of getting an STD is part of that informed consent.

Otherwise you're saying prostitution is legal but helping a lesbian couple conceive is a crime.

[roamer65]

26. Is money changing hands? Are there tests being done for STDs?

If not banned, it needs to be at least regulated, as prostitution is in Australia.

[meadowlander]

28. Why is any of that the government's business?

Prostitution is legal in New Zealand.

Why should I be able to pick up a stranger in a bar, have unprotected sex with them trying to get pregnant and then never contact them again but if I meet someone online, screen them for being a creep, check their references, sign a contract requiring medical tests and a clear understanding of rights/responsibilities, and then have unprotected sex with them to try to get pregnant that should be a crime that the government is going to spend resources investigating, prosecuting and potentially imprisoning people for.

The only thing criminalising this is going to do is encourage even riskier behaviour.

Likewise, why should it be legal for a man to pay a woman to bareback for fun but a woman can't pay a man to help her conceive a child she wants to raise and is prepared to take full responsibility for?

[empedocles]

4. Saw 2 minutes of Vince Vaughan movie last night, [channel surf], 'The Delivery Man'

excerpt from ebay movie review, 'An ageing slacker and former sperm donor discovers that he is the biological father of 533 children, and that 142 of them have filed a lawsuit to reveal his identity.'

[Movie didn't seem worth watching].

[mdelaguna]

5. I'm all for this.

Recalling stories of a doctor who subbed his own at a clinic. Let parents make their own choices, low tech low cost. I mean strangers online is risky but in this case with a known, official organization and presumably references, health clearance, why not? Especially for those that do not need IVF ($$$) for female infertility reasons.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

10. I also have no problem with it. Consenting adults, freedom, etc

It's nobody else's business, really.

[masmdu]

6. In college a roommate of mine

was thrilled to discover he could be paid to provide sperm to a fertility clinic. He couldn't believe he'd let all that money slip between his fingers for years.

[SCantiGOP]

8. Okay.......

You go to Time Out for that one

[PCIntern]

9. Well done!!!!

👌🍆

[Lochloosa]

15. He could have just sold them his socks

[Samrob]

19. I just can't. nt

[Diamond_Dog]

11. I am curious what the Christian Taliban thinks of this.

[Marcuse]

17. Only the leaders are allowed to "donate".

[Samrob]

20. So long as the donor is not black...it's ok with them. nt

[CousinIT]

21. I have a guess...

Women and girls are just reproductive slaves/breeding cows/male service units/domestic slaves to them. That's what all this anti-abortion, anti-contraception, anti-sex education stuff is about really. They try to hide it behind religion and morality (Christofascists) but what it really is, is just self-servitude and a desire for complete control of women and girls in service to that. Handmaid's Tale.

Males have all the rights and no responsibility. Females have no rights and all the responsibility.

You have to admit this 'business model' fits in nicely.

[Freddie]

12. Legal issue

I understand that if a baby is conceived via donor sperm overseen by a doctor in an “official” setting, the mother cannot sue the sperm donor for child support. And that is NOT true for “off the record” donations.

[yellowcanine]

13. I doubt the "donors" are giving real names/info.

And not sticking around for the birth. Good luck trying to win a paternity suit from another country, let alone collect any judgment.

[meadowlander]

27. I'm sure they sign a contract at the time of donation

that specifies what support/contact if any the donor is on the hook for or allowed.

[harumph]

16. Maybe the sperm of a guy that wants to reproduce THAT badly

might not be top quality sperm so to speak...

[meadowlander]

30. You know most of the people doing this are same sex and trans couples

and single women who just never met the right guy.

Why does it imply "not top quality sperm" to be the kind of person that wants to help people realise their dream of becoming parents without having to take out a second mortgage on their house?

In New Zealand it's illegal for sperm and egg donors to accept monetary compensation so there are almost no donors. Lesbian couples have to travel overseas or import sperm and if they need to do multiple rounds it becomes prohibitively expensive fast.

[David__77]

18. While I like the commodification on some level, this seems fine to me.

I don’t want the state to monopolize various routes to reproductive options.

[Zeitghost]

22. Say it with me:

Reproductive Freedom.

[Bayard]

23. One problem I see

Is anyone doing genetic testing on these guys for hereditary diseases?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

29. Just a bunch of jerk offs.