Making families: Organizational boundary work in US egg and sperm donation

Johnson, Katherine M.

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.10.015

Cited by 21 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…We should, however, always bear in mind the institutional context in which the images are exhibited (Lister and Wells, 2001). As sperm banks are labelled by some scholars as 'gatekeepers' (Johnson, 2013), referring to their implicit efforts at thought control of prospective and actual recipients (Bokek-Cohen, 2015a), we nevertheless underscore their role in providing public platforms for agonistic discourse of hegemonic masculinity and heteronormativity. Hence, traditional masculinity and heteronormativity are desemiotized in the shift from the visual to the verbal texts included in the extended profiles, and vice versa.…”

Section: O N C L U S I O Nmentioning

confidence: 86%

A visual semiotic analysis of sperm donors’ baby photos as major marketing material at thes[u]permarket

Bokek‐Cohen

2017

Visual Communication

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This article presents a semiotic visual analysis of 48 sperm donors’ baby photos from six of the largest American sperm banks, using Kress and Van Leeuwen’s method of ‘reading images’ described in Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design (2006). Donor baby photos, conceptualized as self-advertisements, serve to engage prospective sperm users because of their liminal nature. The following issues are addressed: How do sperm donors use baby photos to transmit messages to prospective recipients? What are the cultural values conveyed via the photos? Is there a correspondence between donors’ verbal narratives and meanings encoded in baby photos? Furthermore, a new category of ‘chosen/selected’ images is proposed for classifying photos that were neither made for the purpose of the study nor found by the researcher. The photo selection is strategic and serves to engage sperm recipients in imaginary relations with donors. Furthermore, subversive messages tacitly transmitted in baby photos desemiotize some of the stated values in the verbal narratives.

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Section: O N C L U S I O Nmentioning

confidence: 86%

A visual semiotic analysis of sperm donors’ baby photos as major marketing material at thes[u]permarket

Bokek‐Cohen

2017

Visual Communication

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“…Sperm donors are men who donate their gametes for a third party to purchase, gestate, and use to become parents. Institutionally, sperm banks act as a mediator between the donors and intended parents (Johnson, ). Anonymity in gamete donation provides additional kinship barriers by disrupting social and physical relationships (Almeling, ; Burr, ).…”

Section: Men As Sperm Donorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Men and infertility: Insights from the sociology of gender

Halcomb¹

2018

Sociology Compass

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This review explores the framing of men and infertility in recent interdisciplinary social science research. I illustrate how men's diverse institutional roles surrounding medicalized experiences of infertility are critical for understanding inequality in reproduction. Situating research on men and infertility in the theoretical framework of gender as social structure shows how men's secondary position in reproduction can be seen across institutional roles, which include men as patients, men as partners, men as sperm donors, and men as doctors. Men's experiences with reproductive medicine often reinforce men's marginal position in reproductive medicine through institutionalized arrangements; yet, men are intimately and structurally involved in reproductive decisions. I argue that bringing gender to the center of research on infertility could make clear the many structural ways women and women's bodies are controlled, regulated, and treated by reproductive medicine.

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“…In the absence of overarching policies regulating the US fertility industry much may be left up to medical practitioners and other professionals (e.g. reproductive lawyers and social workers) to help the various parties involved define their family boundaries (Johnson ). Patient literature provides one specific instance where men and women seeking out these technologies will encounter initial expectations for framing these relationships and asserting parental claims in the absence of traditional routes.…”

Section: Framing (Maternal) Expectationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contingent maternities? Maternal claims‐making in third party reproduction

Johnson

2017

Sociology Health & Illness

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The new reproductive technologies have significantly impacted definitions of motherhood. Historically, mothers were defined through the act of giving birth, but egg donation, embryo donation, and surrogacy disrupt this. Now multiple women can potentially claim maternity through gestational, genetic, legal, and social ties. Although there is some legal precedent for designating parentage, there is no simple solution to identify the 'true' mother. I address maternal claims-making in third party reproduction via a content analysis of US patient literature for infertile women. Major tensions arise over which link to privilege, especially regarding genetic versus gestational ties in egg donation versus surrogacy; however, adding embryo donation to the analysis illuminates another crucial dimension previously overlooked - that heterosexual women's maternal claims are supported by their partner's paternity claims. Ultimately, I argue that although reproductive organisational discourse carefully constructs credible options for maternal claims-making, contemporary reproductive medicine does not define maternity through assisted reproduction as a truly autonomous connection. Rather, maternity is highly contingent and thus potentially discreditable.

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Making families: Organizational boundary work in US egg and sperm donation

Cited by 21 publications

References 38 publications

A visual semiotic analysis of sperm donors’ baby photos as major marketing material at thes[u]permarket

A visual semiotic analysis of sperm donors’ baby photos as major marketing material at thes[u]permarket

Men and infertility: Insights from the sociology of gender

Contingent maternities? Maternal claims‐making in third party reproduction

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