Egg Donors More Valued Than Sperm Donors

[Average_joe]

I think reactions like this are exactly what the article is talking about.

All I really think the article was trying to say is that there should be SOME kind of acknowledgement that male donors have value. Not that they somehow have it harder or that donations are equal. Just that what they are doing IS essential, and that it isn't quite as easy as any old schmoe jerking off into a cup. The guys do still have to make the choice to donate, and they do so even when the rewards are pretty slim, in comparison.

I noticed that most of the negative responses to the article focused mainly on the money, when the article didn't really even challenge the current ideas of how donors should be compensated. Mostly, the article focused on the amount of attention given to the donors, including education and perceived societal value.

I guess I'm a bit shocked that the consensus is that sperm donors are not worthy of at least the same dignity as egg donors.

Sperm Donors Valued Less Than Egg Donors

ScienceDaily (May 26, 2007) — When Sociologist Rene Almeling decided to look into the operations of U.S. sperm banks and egg agencies, the UCLA Ph.D. candidate in sociology thought she knew what she would find.

She figured that any discrepancies in compensation rates for the building blocks of assisted reproduction could be explained by either market forces or the biological differences between female egg donors, who must undergo hormone therapy and outpatient surgery, and their male counterparts, who, as one recruitment ad put it, “get paid to do what you already do.”

Instead, Almeling, whose findings appear in the June issue of the American Sociological Review, uncovered a topsy-turvy market that often defies not just conventional wisdom but also the basic law of supply and demand.

“Men donors are paid less for a much longer time commitment and a great deal of personal inconvenience,” she said. “They also are much less prepared for the emotional consequences of serving as a donor of reproductive material. Women, meanwhile, are not only paid more for a much shorter time commitment, they are repeatedly thanked for ‘giving the gift of life.’

“From compensation rates to the smallest details of donor relations, sperm donors are less valued than egg donors,” Almeling said. “Egg donors are treated like gold, while sperm donors are perceived as a dime a dozen.”

*SNIP*​

“While most egg donors will never meet their genetic children, women are expected to reproduce well-worn patters of ‘naturally’ caring, helpful femininity, guiltily hiding any interest that they might have in the promise of thousands of dollars,” Almeling said. “This ruse is not demanded of sperm donors. Men, who are more likely to be contacted through the banks’ identity release programs, often do not even consider that children will result from regular deposits at the sperm bank.”

In fact, one sperm donor was dumbstruck when he was informed that one of his contributions had resulted in conception.

“I hadn’t really thought about the fact there were going to be pregnancies,” he said. <--- I think that last statement explains why men are paid less. :tongue:

I don't see it as a big deal that men are paid less than women for their donation. When a woman donates her eggs it is a major medical procedure. Which sometimes requires months of prescription medications which may or may not be covered by insurance.

When a man donates sperm he takes 15 minutes out of his day to jerk-off into plastic cup. In addition men can make sperm until the day they die. Women are only allotted a certain amount of eggs in our lifetime. It makes sense to generously compensate us for egg donation.

There is simply put, no comparison.