Semen as Gift, Semen as Goods: Reproductive Workers and the Market in Altruism

Abstract

This article examines how perceptions of what semen is thought to contain affect its value as a marketable product. I explore how donor altruism, intelligence and ethnicity traits thought to be transmitted in sperm are perceived and transacted among representatives of the sperm banking industry, as well as among women who purchase semen for insemination and show how the linkages between the reproductive industry and the sex industry further heighten the commodity-quality of semen donation. I argue that the emphasis placed on altruism, is an attempt to redefine the commodity quality of semen as gift, in order to imbue it with higher emotional and moral value.