Forging new families in contemporary contexts: Exploring interpersonal relationships, power and abuses of power within online sperm donation
Lead Research Organisation:
Leeds Beckett University
Department Name: School of Social Sciences
Abstract
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights describes the family as the "fundamental unit of society", and in 1969, the United Nations recommended that "governments should, as a matter of urgency, make universally available information, education and the means to assist couples and individuals to achieve their desired number of children". However, many people need help from a sperm donor to start or build their family, and even now, there are lots of barriers to them receiving this help at an NHS or private clinic. So, instead, many people are looking for a sperm donor online. Unfortunately, there is very little information available to them about what online sperm donation involves and how it might change their lives for the better - or, possibly, for the worse. In the media, for example, there have been stories of men registering with online sperm donation sites and then being abusive to women who are looking for sperm.
Relationships are at the heart of online sperm donation so our project starts there. There are the relationships between the person looking for sperm and the person who donates the sperm, and between these people and their life partner (if they have one). There are also the relationships between the many people who take part in the online sperm donation websites, and between these people and the person who owns the website. Sometimes, these relationships go well; sometimes, they do not. The first aim of this project is to look at how people experience these relationships, who is being positioned as powerful, and any abuse that is happening. In the first part of the project, the main way that we will look at these relationships is by talking with people who want sperm and people who are looking to donate sperm. We will talk with them three times over two years, starting with their online search to find sperm or donate sperm. Over the two years, we will also talk to these people's life partner, and the person they find who gives them the sperm or who they donate their sperm to. In the second part of the project, we will look at the relationships between the many people who take part in online sperm donation websites, and between these people and the person who owns the website. The main ways we will look at this is by joining the online websites as a researcher and following how people interact with and treat each other over one year, and by talking with the people who own the websites.
The research will increase everyone's understanding of three important topics in our society: violence, health, and the internet. For violence, it will make people more aware of how women looking for sperm online (and possibly other people, too) are being abused, what support they need, and how we can stop this abuse from happening. For health, it will help decide whether NHS clinics should have more funding for sperm donation and who can access it, and whether the government should regulate online sperm donation. For the internet, it will help people discuss how the internet affects our lives and what safety and support we need online.
It will be essential to ask the people involved in online sperm donation what they think needs to change in online sperm donation (e.g., public awareness, policies, laws, support services). So, the second aim of the project is to find out what people involved in online sperm donation think is the 'ideal future' for online sperm donation and work with them to make these changes. In the third part of the project, we will run workshops to share the research findings using comics and drawings, and together, work out what needs to change in online sperm donation, plan and do activities that will lead to this change, and log what changes happen. During the whole project, we will also share our findings with people involved in online sperm donation, researchers, professionals working in abuse, health, and internet safety, people who make policies and laws, and the public, to help effect change.
Relationships are at the heart of online sperm donation so our project starts there. There are the relationships between the person looking for sperm and the person who donates the sperm, and between these people and their life partner (if they have one). There are also the relationships between the many people who take part in the online sperm donation websites, and between these people and the person who owns the website. Sometimes, these relationships go well; sometimes, they do not. The first aim of this project is to look at how people experience these relationships, who is being positioned as powerful, and any abuse that is happening. In the first part of the project, the main way that we will look at these relationships is by talking with people who want sperm and people who are looking to donate sperm. We will talk with them three times over two years, starting with their online search to find sperm or donate sperm. Over the two years, we will also talk to these people's life partner, and the person they find who gives them the sperm or who they donate their sperm to. In the second part of the project, we will look at the relationships between the many people who take part in online sperm donation websites, and between these people and the person who owns the website. The main ways we will look at this is by joining the online websites as a researcher and following how people interact with and treat each other over one year, and by talking with the people who own the websites.
The research will increase everyone's understanding of three important topics in our society: violence, health, and the internet. For violence, it will make people more aware of how women looking for sperm online (and possibly other people, too) are being abused, what support they need, and how we can stop this abuse from happening. For health, it will help decide whether NHS clinics should have more funding for sperm donation and who can access it, and whether the government should regulate online sperm donation. For the internet, it will help people discuss how the internet affects our lives and what safety and support we need online.
It will be essential to ask the people involved in online sperm donation what they think needs to change in online sperm donation (e.g., public awareness, policies, laws, support services). So, the second aim of the project is to find out what people involved in online sperm donation think is the 'ideal future' for online sperm donation and work with them to make these changes. In the third part of the project, we will run workshops to share the research findings using comics and drawings, and together, work out what needs to change in online sperm donation, plan and do activities that will lead to this change, and log what changes happen. During the whole project, we will also share our findings with people involved in online sperm donation, researchers, professionals working in abuse, health, and internet safety, people who make policies and laws, and the public, to help effect change.
| Title | Recruitment graphics |
| Description | We worked with Una Comics (https://thingsbyuna.com/) to create digital posters and graphic images to assist us with recruiting the sample for Phase 1. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | The main recruitment graphic features on the 'Current Research' page of our website. This page, and subsequently the recruitment poster, has been viewed 193 times. The recruitment poster has also been placed in national and international online sperm donation Facebook groups and on online sperm donation connection/related websites (e.g., Donor-conception Network; Pride Angel) - which have thousands of members. |
| URL | https://www.theosdproject.com/current-research |
| Description | Joining National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) committee to review policy |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | PsyCen Funding 2022 |
| Amount | £29,052 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Leeds Beckett University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2023 |
| End | 09/2024 |
| Title | Interaction logs |
| Description | Donors and recipients recruited at the individual-level are asked to write down their interactions with people looking for sperm online/people donating sperm online from the study start until they conceive with a recipient/donor. Participants are provided with a template to record anonymous information about these interactions. For example, the date of the interaction, mode of interaction (e.g., online chat/phone/in-person), and a summary of what happened (with the option of saying more, if they want to). These interaction logs will help us to understand how people looking for sperm and people donating sperm make and build connections with each other. |
| Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - human |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | N/A |
| Title | Narrative interview schedule: Donors in Phase 1, Wave 1 |
| Description | The interviews employ a life story approach: the participant leads the researcher through their life up to that point, followed by researcher probes to deeply understand these experiences and their impacts, particularly regarding relationships, power and abuse. Example topics covered in the interview include: family, parenthood, when/how online sperm donation became important in the participants' lives and their experiences so far, significant relationships in online sperm donation, and the ups and downs of these experiences. |
| Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - human |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | N/A |
| Title | Narrative interview schedule: Partners in Phase 1, Wave 1 |
| Description | The partners of donors and recipients - recruited at the individual level - are invited to share their life stories, talking the researcher through their life up to the point of the first interview. The researcher asks follow-up questions about topics covered in their life story. These follow-up questions are led by the participant's story, though likely topics include (but are not limited to): families, parenthood, how/when online sperm donation became important in their life, the ups and downs of online sperm donation for them so far, and the impacts of these. |
| Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - human |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | N/A |
| Title | Narrative interview schedule: Recipients in Phase 1, Wave 1 |
| Description | The interviews employ a life story approach: the participant leads the researcher through their life up to that point, followed by researcher probes to deeply understand these experiences and their impacts, particularly regarding relationships, power, and abuse. Example topics covered in the interview include: family, parenthood, when/how online sperm donation became important in the participant's lives and their experiences so far, significant relationships in online sperm donation, and the ups and downs of these experiences. |
| Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - human |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | N/A |
| Title | Narrative interview schedule: Site owners in Phase 2 |
| Description | The interviews employ a life story approach: the participant leads the researcher through their life up to the point of creating (or taking over the management of) the online sperm donation connection website or a social media site, through to managing the site now. Follow-up questions cover topics such as families, parenthood, how/when online sperm donation became important in the participant's life, the ups and downs of creating and/or managing an online sperm donation site, and the impacts of these. |
| Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - human |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | N/A |
| Title | Visual socio-ecological power narratives (VSPN) |
| Description | The VSPN is a tool used to explore power across the social ecology from the participant's perspective. Power is an abstract concept, which is made tangible by asking the participant about who or what "influences" their sperm donation journey and asking them to map these onto five concentric circles, representing the five levels of the social ecology. This visual method is interspersed with discussion on how these 'actors' influence their experiences, if/how they themselves influence these actors, and which actor(s) has the most powerful influence overall. These 'visual socio-ecological power narratives' are adapted from qualitative network maps and sociograms. |
| Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - human |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | N/A |
| Description | Special issue on unregulated sperm donation: Frontiers in Global Women's Health |
| Organisation | Frontiers Media SA |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Dr Turner-Moore proposed a special issue on unregulated sperm donation to the journal: Frontiers in Global Women's Health. Dr Turner-Moore (PI), Professor Jones (co-I), and Professor Pacey (co-I) are topic editors for the special issue, entitled, 'Global and multidisciplinary perspectives on unregulated sperm donation'. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Professor Naomi Cahn at the School of Law, University of Virginia, and Professor Sonia Suter at the Law School, George Washington University (both in the USA) were invited to join the team as topic editors for the special issue. |
| Impact | No outputs or outcomes as yet. The collaboration is multi-disciplinary, spanning Psychology, Medicine/Andrology, and Law. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Blog post: project overview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dr Turner-Moore wrote a blog post for our research project website. The primary purpose of the blog post was to provide an overview of the research project for people who have signed up to our mailing list and website visitors. A secondary purpose of this blog post was to disseminate knowledge to potential participants about the ethical review processes involved in conducting academic research. We hoped that this would reassure potential participants about their ability to take part in our research anonymously. To date, 68 people have read this blog post. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.theosdproject.com/post/introducing-the-online-sperm-donation-project-new-ways-of-creatin... |
| Description | Blog post: recruitment update |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Blog post written by RF Smith updating our mailing list subscribers and site visitors about recruitment for our research. A secondary aim of this blog post was to increase public awareness of what 'recruitment' means in academic research. To date, 30 people have read this blog post. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.theosdproject.com/post/reaching-donors-and-recipients-involved-in-online-sperm-donation |
| Description | Engagement focused social media accounts |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We have created social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) to engage with the public, media, policymakers, NGOs, and potential participants about our research and related activities. Our engagement on social media has led to us to a following of >100 people, to date, across the combined accounts. Social media influencers, including those with over 30,000 followers, have shared our research activities on their social media platforms, meaning that our research is likely to be known by more people than the total number of followers we have to date. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/theOSDproject |
| Description | Leeds Beckett University press release |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Leeds Beckett University press office published a press release about the research project when it launched in 2022. The primary purpose of this was to inform the public about the research and why it is being carried out. Dr Turner-Moore was interviewed for one of the resulting news stories and RA Forshall's MRes and RA Taylor's PhD research were drawn upon. Further news outlets reported on the research following the publication of this article. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/news/2022/04/largest-ever-study-into-online-sperm-donation-launched-a... |
| Description | Press coverage of the research in Bioedge |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | BioEdge, an online news outlet covering news related to Bioethics, ran a story about our research. The primary purpose of this article was to provide information to people on online sperm donation and detail on the research project, |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://bioedge.org/beginning-of-life-issues/sperm-donation/sperm-donation-a-complicated-business/ |
| Description | Press coverage of the research in Ceng news |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Cengnews - a US-based online news publication - provided coverage of our research on their website. The primary purpose was to disseminate knowledge about online sperm donation and our research to the general public. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.cengnews.com/news/women-use-online-sperm-donation-to-save-money-at-the-clinic-and-meet-t... |
| Description | Press coverage of the research in iPaper/iNews |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | iPaper (and its online version, iNews) - a national publication in the UK - published an article about the research. The primary purpose of this article was to inform the public about the research and why it is being carried out. Dr Turner-Moore was interviewed for the news story. The most up-to-date national newspaper circulations in January 2023 (ABC) showed that iPaper had a readership of 134, 277. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://inews.co.uk/news/online-sperm-donation-women-have-baby-cut-clinic-costs-meet-donor-1624185 |
| Description | Project website for people to share and read stories of online sperm donation and discover research opportunities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A website for the project has been developed with the primary aim of providing a platform for the general public to read about, and share stories of, online sperm donation. To date, eight recipients and one donor have shared their stories on our website and at least 32 unique visitors have accessed the published stories. A secondary purpose of the website is to share information relating to our research into online sperm donation, and to provide links to relevant resources and support services. Since starting the ESRC project and updating our website, there have been 245 unique visitors to the website and we have had over 50 people - from the UK and beyond - contact us about participating in our research via the website. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| URL | https://www.theosdproject.com/ |
| Description | Public involvement group meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Nine people with lived experience of online sperm donation were recruited for our public involvement group to advise on the project materials, methods, ethical issues and recruitment strategies. The intended purpose of forming this group was to ensure that our research is led by the people it impacts. At the first public involvement group and research team meeting, the public involvement group engaged in narrative research methods training and provided feedback on the design of our first and second studies (e.g., reviewing research materials; recruitment strategies; research questions). This feedback informed our amendments to the participant-facing documents and recruitment strategy. For example, the channels we would recruit through and our recruitment materials. The public involvement feedback also shaped the interview schedules for Phase 1, Wave 1 of data collection. The public involvement group has continued to provide feedback on our methodology via online Facebook groups and email. Public involvement members have expressed being proud to be a part of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Response to media request relating to online sperm donation : The Sunday Times |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Dr Turner-Moore and Professor Pacey responded to a media request from The Sunday Times to discuss online sperm donation. The most up-to-date national newspaper circulation figures (ABC) from 2020 show that The Sunday Times had a readership of 647,622. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pseudo-science-and-fascism-the-dark-side-of-sperm-donation-5zgtrb... |
| Description | YouTube channel |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | As part of our public engagement activities and recruitment strategy, we developed a YouTube channel for our project. The main purpose of the channel is to inform potential participants and the general public about our research project. We currently have 6 subscribers (i.e., people who 'follow' our channel) and, our six videos have reached at least 60 people. The six videos on our channel include: Overview of the project (60 views); Taking part as a donor (38 views); Taking part as a recipient (27 views); Taking part as a site owner (10 views); Information to site owners and site users about the digital ethnography (5 views, respectively). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/@theosdproject |