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Greg Schieffer
Newcomer
3 Posts |
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Sergio Cerrillo
Apprentice
28 Posts |
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Alex Artzer
Apprentice
29 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 24 2012 : 2:42:10 PM
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The interesting thing about this is that we don't question people who go to fertility clinics to conceive a child. Women who need help conceiving a child through these methods (where a doctor is involved) is not seen as morally wrong, and it isn't compared to prostitution even though it is the sale of sperm. If a woman chooses to conceive of a child through the payment of sex with a man whose sperm she wants, rather than spending thousands of dollars for doctors to do it, I would say more power to her. I say this because of the money that is involved. Honestly, why would I pay thousands of dollars to get sperm implanted in me when I could pay a man much cheaper to do the same job? It may not be guaranteed after the first chance, but it would be a lot cheaper than paying the doctors to do it. But, I wouldn't really call the man a "prostitute" in the sense that we view prostitutes (and I don't think that prostitution is immoral). I would say that prostitutes are people who get paid for sex, but more that the paying customer usually pays for the pleasure, physical contact, and/or affection that sexual activity brings (not for the purpose of procreation). I am not saying that this is always what prostitution has to include or always includes, but I don't think the way that these women obtain the sperm changes what they paid for. In the clinics where women pay thousands of dollars for "good sperm", they are paying for good genes and the ability to conceive a child. Just because sex is the simpler way to conceive a child, and certainly the cheaper form, doesn't change the intent of her actions. She isn't paying for sex, she is paying him for his sperm to conceive a child. I see these as different.
And as for not ever hearing of people being freelance donors, it's probably because there is money in the business of fertility clinics and men giving sperm to clinics to basically be sold to women to conceive. I see it as taking the middle man out, and paying a lot less money to have a child. I don't think it is immoral at all. But again, I would not say that prostitution is immoral. |
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Sergio Cerrillo
Apprentice
28 Posts |
Posted - Apr 24 2012 : 6:38:33 PM
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| Look up the word prostitute or prostitution... The definition on any site or in any dictionary will say something that has to do with both sexual intercourse and money. The man and he selling himself to women for his sperm and whether this makes him a prostitute; that is what Greg was questioning. If a woman wants to spend hundreds of dollars on just plain sex with a stranger, rather than thousands to go to a sperm bank to help with the conception of a child then in your words, "more power to her". I would agree with you, but the real discussion and focus should be on the man in this, not the women. The man and his acts are what are in question. I see that these women no matter what are still paying this man to have sex with them, which makes him a male prostitute, to obtain his sperm. If the woman really wanted could she not just ask the man to shoot his sperm into a container and call it a day? Then sex wouldn't be involved at all, that wouldn't be prostitution. But like my earlier statement, money is involved and so it makes it prostitution hands down. |
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Alex Artzer
Apprentice
29 Posts |
Posted - Apr 24 2012 : 8:06:02 PM
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I understand that prostitution involves the exchange of money for sex, but what I was trying (however successfully or unsuccessfully) to get at is the fact that it seems like prostitution normally involves sex for the sake of pleasure, at least the illusion of affection, and the physical contact, not merely for the sake of the sperm. That is why I said II wouldn't consider it the same as prostitution. I understand your position, but I was trying to argue that what we have here isn't all that well-defined a line. I think that if a man did what this man did solely for the purpose of providing people with sperm that would enable them to have children, then maybe he could be correctly described as a freelance sperm donor. He also asked the question, "Does the way in which these women obtained the sperm change the fact that what they paid for was sperm, not sex?" I was also trying to answer also this question when I brought up the way in which women do obtain sperm in ways that don't involve having sex.
Also, I was trying to connect what we're talking about here with some of our other discussions -- discussions that have touched on the the absurdity of regarding it as acceptable for women to pay for sperm at a sperm bank or fertility clinic, but as unacceptable and as nothing more than prostitution when they choose the more direct route of paying someone to transfer directly sperm into their bodies. I thought this might be an interesting question to discuss.
[Lightly edited to enhance readability -TT] |
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Rachel Thomas
Newcomer
2 Posts |
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Alex Artzer
Apprentice
29 Posts |
Posted - Apr 24 2012 : 8:38:34 PM
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| I guess maybe sometimes I can be a contrarian, just trying to think about the other side of the argument. Rachel, I definitely didn't consider some of the issues involved in fathering that many children anin the possible health risks you've mentioned. I didn't see the program Greg was talking about, and I know know about the actual situation, but I wonder if his getting paid for the sperm needed to father a child is enough to justify the claim that he ought to pay child support. Who knows? I definitely think that this is an odd job for a man, but I also think that the women who paid for his services should have understood the risk of contracting STDs as well as all the other risks of sex with someone just to get pregnant without having any knowledge of the "donor's" sexual history. |
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Sarah Redman
Fledgling
8 Posts |
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Sergio Cerrillo
Apprentice
28 Posts |
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Sarah Redman
Fledgling
8 Posts |
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Sergio Cerrillo
Apprentice
28 Posts |
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Prostitution or...?
