Sperm donor fathers 59 children without his wife's knowledge
A new BBC3 documentary explores the darker side of unregulated sperm donors
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Your support makes all the difference.A British sperm donor has revealed that he has fathered 59 children through donations, unbeknownst to his wife.
“It’s a secret I’ll take to the grave,” the anonymous donor reveals in a new BBC Three documentary, which takes a closer look at the murky world of online sperm donations.
He is just one of the donors featured in Desperately Seeking Semen, which also sees one man admitting that he sees unprotected sex as “a perk” of the job.
In Britain, demand for sperm donations far exceeds supply.
Whilst there are professional sperm banks which offer screened and tested samples, high costs (often thousands of pounds) can lead some to seek out cheaper alternatives.
Unauthorised online donors who charge as little as £50 are travelling the country far and wide to offer their services to couples unable to conceive.
Whilst some of the men featured in the program seem genuinely keen to help, for others it seems to be a way through which they can simply enjoy guaranteed sex.
There are two ways through which one can donate sperm: artificial insemination (AI) and natural insemination (NI).
Whilst the former is more popular amongst couples, and simply involves a man providing his sperm in a pot to the couple in need, the documentary reveals that the latter is still requested and occasionally preferred by both donors and childless women.
“You have to have unprotected sex,” explains Jason – who has been a sperm donor for one year – “but when you ejaculate it comes out at twenty something miles per hour, so it’s more thorough,” he explains on camera.
The eager donor recalls an encounter with one woman, whose photograph he hadn’t seen prior to meeting her because she had no profile picture on her social media accounts.
He admitted to feeling “very lucky” when he opened the door to a “gorgeous” woman he had been requested by. After giving her a massage – which he calls his “trademark manoeuvre” – they had sex and his job was done.
A lesbian couple featured on the program confessed that a lot of the people they speak to online are clearly just after sex, with some looking to turn gay women straight.
One donor also revealed the alternative places in which he can provide his services.
"Sometimes it’s somebody’s home, sometimes it’s a hotel. Sometimes it's a railway station, a pub toilet has been used, McDonald’s, Costa Coffee," he says.
Because the donors are entirely independent and unmonitored – they typically find “work” on Facebook groups – there’s no guarantee that they will follow through, even after receiving payment, as the documentary shows.
“It’s so important in an arrangement like this, however with social media you can effectively cut someone out of your life, you block them and that’s it,” explains George, who has been a donor for five years.
“People can behave however they want to because there are no consequences.”
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