Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Major study into sperm donation stories
Dr Rhys Turner-Moore and Professor Georgina Jones – from Leeds School of Social Sciences – would like to work with women who are planning to look for a sperm donor via a website or social media platform.
The study will document their journeys from their initial search to potential pregnancy, birth and the first few months of motherhood.
Dr Turner-Moore said: “While many women access assisted conception via the NHS or private clinics, financial and other restrictions are leading to increasing numbers of women searching for sperm donors online.
“Although these informal means of sperm donation have been taking place for some time, very little is known about them.
“We will start by identifying policies, legislation and background research that might be applied to this new area and mapping the different websites and social media platforms that are being used by women seeking sperm donors and men offering to be sperm donors.
“Following this, the main part of the research will be an opportunity for women to chronicle their own experiences, whether it be through video, audio or written diaries, photographs and drawings, discussions with the researchers, or any other way that they would like to narrate their experiences from the initial search for an online sperm donor to birth and beyond.”
Women who plan to look for a sperm donor online can email Dr Turner-Moore for more information about taking part in the research. The identity of the women who take part will be carefully protected.