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It strikes me as strange that this many people are enlisting the help of a sperm bank to have children. What are the use cases here? Simply “sterile would-be fa

by lumb63 3y ago

It strikes me as strange that this many people are enlisting the help of a sperm bank to have children. What are the use cases here? Simply “sterile would-be father” and “single woman wants child”? Am I missing something? That can’t possibly be a sizable portion of the population? If they are, those feel like issues to address.

barbazoo 3y ago
Those are some use cases and that is a way to address those issues.
seszett 3y ago
Couples that want a child and can't because of fertility problems on the side of the man are more common than you apparently think.
77pt77 3y ago
Single (many times older) women that have very restrictive deal breakers. It's no coincidence that virtually all sperm banks deny donors shorter than heights that are much taller than average. Add to that income and education restrictions and the potential pool is very, very small.
hn_user82179 3y ago
off the top of my head, I can think of gay couples, people with genetic/health issues they don't want to pass on to their child. There are probably other demographics, but fwiw male sperm counts seem to be going down at a large scale. It absolutely is an issue to address, but if you are someone who can't conceive or are unlikely to conceive, a sperm bank is an effective option. The man in the article also has been doing this since 2007 so it's been over a long period of time.
1letterunixname 3y ago
This is some outrage bait by so-called journalists using weasel words. Unless this is in a tiny village, the risk of accidental incest is FUD. Genetic sexual attraction is pseudoscience, and assortative mating has very little to do with related persons. It was a practical problem of feudal empires and small villages globally before the automobile and the airplane, but today, it's not a meaningful concern. So-called consanguinity as absolute fractions base on formal relationships rather than genes is an illusion because it is unique to all pairs of individuals due to the recursive nature of heritable genetics.
s1artibartfast 3y ago
I don't see why it would be that shocking. 5 to 7% of males are infertile. 3% of women are gay. Together that's nearly 10% of the 17 million population. That presents a sizable use case for a married couples. And aren't really issues that can be readily addressed. The Netherlands also has different attitudes towards child rearing. About 40% of children are born to unmarried women and 15% are raised by single parents.
- bradlys 3y ago
  I don’t think women are typically signing up for sperm donors to be single mothers. You’re mixing up factors here. They’re overwhelmingly in relationships. The single parent stuff is due to a variety of factors - women wanting to raise children all by themselves being an incredibly small percent. Almost no one wants to be a single parent - it just happens due to a series of events that are a mix of in your control and out of your control.
  - s1artibartfast 3y ago
    To the contrary, tons of women want and voluntarily chose to be a single parent in absolute numbers, just not percent. They might prefer to be coparent or other options, but they still want to have child even if it means doing it alone.

by lumb63 3y ago

barbazoo 3y ago

Those are some use cases and that is a way to address those issues.

seszett 3y ago

Couples that want a child and can't because of fertility problems on the side of the man are more common than you apparently think.

77pt77 3y ago

Single (many times older) women that have very restrictive deal breakers. It's no coincidence that virtually all sperm banks deny donors shorter than heights that are much taller than average. Add to that income and education restrictions and the potential pool is very, very small.

hn_user82179 3y ago

off the top of my head, I can think of gay couples, people with genetic/health issues they don't want to pass on to their child. There are probably other demographics, but fwiw male sperm counts seem to be going down at a large scale. It absolutely is an issue to address, but if you are someone who can't conceive or are unlikely to conceive, a sperm bank is an effective option. The man in the article also has been doing this since 2007 so it's been over a long period of time.

1letterunixname 3y ago

This is some outrage bait by so-called journalists using weasel words. Unless this is in a tiny village, the risk of accidental incest is FUD. Genetic sexual attraction is pseudoscience, and assortative mating has very little to do with related persons. It was a practical problem of feudal empires and small villages globally before the automobile and the airplane, but today, it's not a meaningful concern. So-called consanguinity as absolute fractions base on formal relationships rather than genes is an illusion because it is unique to all pairs of individuals due to the recursive nature of heritable genetics.

s1artibartfast 3y ago

I don't see why it would be that shocking. 5 to 7% of males are infertile. 3% of women are gay. Together that's nearly 10% of the 17 million population. That presents a sizable use case for a married couples. And aren't really issues that can be readily addressed. The Netherlands also has different attitudes towards child rearing. About 40% of children are born to unmarried women and 15% are raised by single parents.

bradlys 3y ago
I don’t think women are typically signing up for sperm donors to be single mothers. You’re mixing up factors here. They’re overwhelmingly in relationships. The single parent stuff is due to a variety of factors - women wanting to raise children all by themselves being an incredibly small percent. Almost no one wants to be a single parent - it just happens due to a series of events that are a mix of in your control and out of your control.
- s1artibartfast 3y ago
  To the contrary, tons of women want and voluntarily chose to be a single parent in absolute numbers, just not percent. They might prefer to be coparent or other options, but they still want to have child even if it means doing it alone.