Looking like a family: negotiating bio-genetic continuity in British lesbian families using licensed donor insemination
Looking like a family: negotiating bio-genetic continuity in British lesbian families using licensed donor insemination
Under current legal regulations, when undertaking donor insemination at British clinics, women are able to ‘choose’ particular characteristics of donors. It is also permissible to reserve sperm from a particular donor for future use. These provisions have traditionally been associated with facilitating heterosexual couples to ‘pass’ as ‘the family’. In contrast, this article discusses the significance of these practices for some lesbian couples. I explore the construction of implied (racial and cultural) bio-genetic links between donor-conceived children and co-mothers, and to co-mothers’ extended families. I also examine the use of the same donor for ‘full’ siblings. In conclusion I discuss some of the implications for our understanding of lesbian family construction.
bio-genetic, donor insemination, families, kinship, lesbian
221-237
Jones, Caroline
e39a554e-f70d-4f90-b0dc-efa252e7d41e
May 2005
Jones, Caroline
e39a554e-f70d-4f90-b0dc-efa252e7d41e
Jones, Caroline
(2005)
Looking like a family: negotiating bio-genetic continuity in British lesbian families using licensed donor insemination.
Sexualities, 8 (2), .
(doi:10.1177/1363460705050856).
Abstract
Under current legal regulations, when undertaking donor insemination at British clinics, women are able to ‘choose’ particular characteristics of donors. It is also permissible to reserve sperm from a particular donor for future use. These provisions have traditionally been associated with facilitating heterosexual couples to ‘pass’ as ‘the family’. In contrast, this article discusses the significance of these practices for some lesbian couples. I explore the construction of implied (racial and cultural) bio-genetic links between donor-conceived children and co-mothers, and to co-mothers’ extended families. I also examine the use of the same donor for ‘full’ siblings. In conclusion I discuss some of the implications for our understanding of lesbian family construction.
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Published date: May 2005
Keywords:
bio-genetic, donor insemination, families, kinship, lesbian
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 27899
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/27899
ISSN: 1363-4607
PURE UUID: f62f41df-d9a6-4260-bf65-b24fc0d0411b
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Date deposited: 13 Jun 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 07:21
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Author:
Caroline Jones
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