 By Heather Grace Jones & Dr Maggie Kirkman
Throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, debates about reproductive technology centred almost exclusively on the bodies of women and children, relegating men to the role of anxious (or unctuous) bystanders. With the publication of this book, that public discourse has officially acquired balls.
From the Foreword by Susan Maushart
Sperm is a desirable property. Add in the current cultural anxieties about changing family structures and the role of fathers, and you have a potent recipe for conflict.
- Who has the right to use sperm?
- What makes a father? Is it sperm or changing nappies?
- Should donors be allowed to decide who receives their gametes?
- Where do the rights of children fit in?
- What role should government play in the new reproductive technologies?
SPERM WARS is an extraordinary collection. Each of the twenty five contributions brings into the light the humanity, the messiness of life and the huge emotional investment of the individuals involved in making babies using the ‘new’ technologies. Read the email exchange between Jacqui and Sarah and Mr XY, the sperm donor who gave them their baby Michael (page 128). Or Julie Catt’s remarkable personal story of her family of four children with three different fathers or sperm donors (page 212).
Mary Hogan writes intimately about her conflicting emotions towards her son’s donor father and her discovery that this donor had many offspring. “The numbers suggested something random, an almost limitless production line of babies, which was totally at odds with the specialness of my child.” (page 223)
Bill Muehlenberg puts the case as a biological father of three sons who is present in their home. ‘What children need … is the knowledge that they have two people related to them not just with bonds of love but with a biological connection that makes them unique. They are not the product of an assembly line. page 87)
SPERM WARS raises questions that must be discussed and considered by society now. It combines the voices of personal experience with analysis of current debates and legal cases that have brought into focus the battles over who has access to and use of sperm.
Heather Grace Jones is available for interview from Sydney and Maggie Kirkman is available from Melbourne. To arrange an interview or receive a review copy please contact Jane Finemore on (02)8333 3969 or finemore.jane@abc.net.au
SPERM WARS is available from March 11, 2005 at ABC Shops, ABC Centres, selected bookstores,on-line at abcshop.com.au or phone order to 1300 360 111
srp: $32.95; paperback, 316pp
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Sperm Wars
