Abstract
The present study discusses how Swedish lesbian couples argue for their choice of permanently anonymous donors after conceiving at fertility clinics in Denmark. In a Swedish context, these women challenge both the established Swedish practice of identity-release donors and the previously common practice of lesbian mothers engaging in joint parenthood with gay fathers. Altogether 78 mothers have been interviewed. Discourse analysis show that the interviewees use two main constructions when talking about the permanently anonymous sperm donor: “the donor is not a father” and “the donor is the child’s other half”. The study shows how both these constructions serve to justify that the mothers are good parents. Central aspects in doing good parenthood is to have a close parent–child relationship, taking care of the child in everyday life and acknowledge the child’s future search for its identity.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Bold in the transcribed interview data marks emphasis
References
Chabot, J.M., and B.D. Ames. 2004. “It wasn’t ‘let’s get pregnant and go do it’: Decision making in lesbian couples planning motherhood via donor insemination.” Family Relations 53(4): 348–356.
Cowden, M. 2012. “‘No harm no foul’: A child’s right to know their genetic parents.” International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 26(1): 102–126.
Daniels, K. 2007. “Donor gametes: Anonymous or identified?” Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology 21(1): 113–128.
Donovan, C., and A.R. Wilson. 2008. “Imagination and integrity: Decision-making among lesbian couples to use medically provided donor insemination.” Culture, Health & Sexuality 10(7): 649–665.
Ernst, E., H.J. Ingerslev, O. Schou, and M. Stoltenberg. 2007. “Attitudes among sperm donors in 1992 and 2002: A Danish questionnaire survey.” Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica 86(3): 327–333.
Isaksson, S., A. Skoog Svanberg, G. Sydsjö, A. Thurin-Kjellberg, and P-O. Karlström. 2011. “Two decades after legislation on identifiable donors in Sweden: Are recipient couples ready to be open about using gamete donation?” N-G Human Reproduction 26(4): 853–860.
Malmquist, A. 2015a. Pride and prejudice: Lesbian families in contemporary Sweden, Ph.D. thesis, Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning. Linköping: Linköping University.
Malmquist, A. 2015b. “A crucial but strenuous process: Female same-sex couples’ reflections on second-parent adoption.” Journal of GLBT Family Studies 11(4): 351–374.
Malmquist, A. 2015c. “Women in lesbian relations: Construing equal or unequal parental roles?” Psychology of Women Quarterly 39(2): 256–267.
Malmquist, A. 2016. “‘But wait where should I be, am I Mum or Dad?’ Lesbian couples reflect on heteronormativity in regular antenatal education and the benefits of LGBTQ-certified options.” International Journal of Birth and Parent Education 3(3): 7–10.
Malmquist, A., and K. Zetterqvist Nelson. 2014. “Efforts to maintain a ’just great’ story: Lesbian parents’ talk about encounters with professionals in fertility clinics and maternal and child health care services.” Feminism & Psychology 24(1): 56–73.
Malmquist, A., A. Möllerstrand, M. Wikström, and K. Zetterqvist Nelson. 2014. “‘A daddy is the same as a mummy’: Swedish children in lesbian households talk about fathers and donors”. Childhood 21(1): 119–133.
Nordqvist, P. 2012. “Origins and originators: Lesbian couples negotiating parental identities and sperm donor conception.” Culture, Health & Sexuality 14(3): 297–311.
Polski, A. 2013. Ingen av betydelse: Mödrar från samkönad familjebildning talar om spermadonatorn. Master’s thesis, Department of Psychology. Lund: Lund University.
Proposition 2004/2005:137. Assisterad befruktning och föräldraskap.
Rozental, A., and A. Malmquist. 2015. “Vulnerability and acceptance: Lesbian women’s family-making through assisted reproduction in Swedish health care”. Journal of GLBT Family Studies 11(2): 127–150.
Ryan-Flood, R. 2009. Lesbian motherhood: Gender, families and sexual citizenship. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Turkmendag, I., R. Dingwall, and T. Murphy. 2008. “The removal of donor anonymity in the UK: The silencing of claims by would-be parents.” International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 22: 283–310.
Willig, C. 2008. Introducing qualitative research in psychology: Adventures in theory and method. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Zetterqvist Nelson, K. 2007. Mot alla odds: Regnbågsföräldrars berättelser om att bilda familj och få barn [Against all odds: Rainbow families’ narratives on starting families and have children]. Malmö: Liber.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Malmquist, A., Polski, A., Zetterqvist Nelson, K. (2016). No One of Importance: Lesbian Mothers’ Constructions of Permanently Anonymous Sperm Donors. In: Sparrman, A., Westerling, A., Lind, J., Dannesboe, K. (eds) Doing Good Parenthood. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46774-0_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46774-0_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-46773-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-46774-0
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)