Containing Sperm—Managing Legitimacy

Abstract

The governance of assisted reproduction in Denmark through legislation regards semen as a reproductive substance and thus restricts donor semen's reproductive potential by setting terms for its use. What is not addressed in legislation is semen's status as an ambiguous male bodily fluid that also carries other meanings. Making semen into a governable and exchangeable substance happens instead on the practice level. Based on qualitative interviews with Danish sperm donors and ethnographic fieldwork at Danish sperm banks, this article explores how material-semiotic practices at Danish sperm banks contribute to the legitimacy of sperm donation by making donor semen into a governable reproductive substance.Inspired by the containers that are used at sperm banks, in order to handle donor semen, these practices are understood as containment practices. By managing donor semen's lust and disgust potential, containment practices help to secure donor semen's conversion into an exchangeable means of donor-assisted reproduction.

Living Kinship Trouble: Danish Sperm Donors’ Narratives of Relatedness

“…In Denmark, this social significance becomes performative in bodies of law regulating parent-child relationships. As illustrated in prior research, concerns about family ties and kinship are not so easily dealt with (e.g., Becker, Butler, and Nachtigall 2005;Harrington, Becker, and Nachtigall 2008;Klotz 2014;Nordqvist and Smart 2014). When a heterosexual couple uses donor semen, the father's role especially can be contested, since male anxieties surrounding the use of donor semen stem from the inability to reproduce and norms around fatherhood that deem genetic connections between child and father important (e.g., Goldberg 2010;Inhorn 2006;Tjørnhøj-Thomsen 2009).…”

“…Danish sperm donors cannot rely on an established repertoire of practices, legal or familial, as is the case for father-child relations. They share this challenge with recipients of donor semen and donorconceived individuals (Klotz 2014;Nordqvist and Smart 2014). They have to come up with their own ways of acknowledging the social significance of the biogenetic connections established through donor insemination.…”

Konviviale Technik

“…In der neueren kulturanthropologischen Technikforschung seit etwa 2000 fällt die Wahl des Untersuchungsobjekts dagegen häufig auf die bereits ge-nannten emergenten Technikfelder, auf Reproduktionsmedizin, Computerspiele, Drohnen o.Ä. (Bareither 2017;Jablonowski 2017;Mohr 2016). Grundlegende Techniken und Artefakte wie landwirtschaftliche Geräte, Fahrzeuge oder Toiletten werden außerhalb musealer Kontexte in der Regel höchstens als historische thematisiert.…”