Sex cells
Subtitle: the medical market in sperm and eggs
By: Rene Almeling
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Berkeley
Language: eng
Number of pages: 228
ISBN-13: 9780520270954; 9780520270961
Subjects: Human Artificial insemination; Surrogate motherhood; Moral and ethical aspects; Treatment; Infertility; Economic aspects
Description: From the publisher. Unimaginable until the twentieth century, the clinical practice of transferring eggs and sperm from body to body is now the basis of a bustling market. In Sex Cells, Rene Almeling provides an inside look at how egg agencies and sperm banks do business. Although both men and women are usually drawn to donation for financial reasons, Almeling finds that clinics encourage sperm donors to think of the payments as remuneration for an easy "job." Women receive more money but are urged to regard egg donation in feminine terms, as the ultimate "gift" from one woman to another. Sex Cells shows how the gendered framing of paid donation, as either a job or a gift, not only influences the structure of the market, but also profoundly affects the individuals whose genetic material is being purchased.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Characterizing the material; title: Selling genes, selling gender; title: The embodied production of eggs and sperm; title: Paid donation; title: Defining connections.