• Welcome to The Cave of Dragonflies forums, where the smallest bugs live alongside the strongest dragons.

    Guests are not able to post messages or even read certain areas of the forums. Now, that's boring, don't you think? Registration, on the other hand, is simple, completely free of charge, and does not require you to give out any personal information at all. As soon as you register, you can take part in some of the happy fun things at the forums such as posting messages, voting in polls, sending private messages to people and being told that this is where we drink tea and eat cod.

    Of course I'm not forcing you to do anything if you don't want to, but seriously, what have you got to lose? Five seconds of your life?

Would you be a sperm or egg donor for a friend?

Would you be a sperm or egg donor for a friend?

  • Yes

    Votes: 37 64.9%

  • No

    Votes: 17 29.8%

  • Other (specify)

    Votes: 3 5.3%
  • Total voters
    57
I demand naming rights for use of my sperm.

I'll be damned if they name the kid Hunter or Scout. I'm going to make sure it's anything but.
 
Valor said:
I demand naming rights for use of my sperm.

I'll be damned if they name the kid Hunter or Scout. I'm going to make sure it's anything but.
Click to expand...

Oh god, I hadn't even thought of that. I'd probably try to dissuade my friend from picking a horrible name as well.
 
Mirry said:
Oh god, I hadn't even thought of that. I'd probably try to dissuade my friend from picking a horrible name as well.
Click to expand...

Uhh... That's what I WANT to name my kid, though... I just want to raise the little bastard.

That hurts.
 
On the one hand, I'm not using them, so why not? On the other hand, I want absolutely no relationship with any offspring or whatever, so it wouldn't be cool if the kid was all "but I want to know my real parent D:". And as I have several physical and apparently mental health problems it wouldn't be a good idea unless this friend wanted an asthmatic kid with bad eyes and the potential for schizophrenia later down the line.

If it weren't for the asthma-bad-eyes-and-schizophrenia part I might consider giving to a fertility clinic or something, because you get paid for that and it's a lot less likely that I'd ever have to see the little rat.

And I don't have any friends.
 
They really are.

What do you lose from donating eggs or sperm to someone you know would be a decent parent? I mean, really.
 
Sure.

After they resurrected me. I would die of laughter.

Edit:

Are people with serious genetic problems that common...?
Click to expand...

Everyone has "genetic problems." If you have less-than-perfect eyesight or teeth, you most likely have genetic problems. That right there nails at least 80% of the people I know, and I haven't even gone into stuff like asthma, mild behavioral disorders, which can have genetic components, and things like that. Now, serious genetic problems, like Down's Syndrome, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, muscular dystrophy and so on, are naturally far less common.

No offense, guys, but going "baawww my genes suck" if you don't have anything more than mild issues is pretty lame. If you can function normally in society without having to be hooked up to a machine regularly or take a ton of meds or be in constant pain and you aren't going to die, you're probably doing fine in that regard.
 
Last edited:
Am I... getting paid for this? I mean, I could just go down to any old sperm bank and give it a shot for about $25. I want to be compensated for this too, although not as much. And I'm agreeing with Valor, I want to at least have a say in the name. Or maybe I could pick his/her middle name. That might be cool too.

Hmmm... The only thing might be my mild childhood asthma, and my inability to snap or whistle well.
 
so um

the only real friend I have is my girlfriend, and sure I'd "donate" sperm to her

if you catch my drift, ehehehehe

but seriously, maybe I'll just donate it to a sperm bank like Arthur Dent does in h2g2. Then I'll wonder how many of my indirect children are wandering the earth.
 
Unless Hypothetical Friend really had no other options or specifically wanted Your Baby over some random person's... wouldn't you want a baby that stood the best chance of being as healthy as possible?

Looking for pity or whatever over the internet is pretty lame, but it's a valid point to bring up. Certain problems might be minor, and you'd probably want a kid that was predisposed to needing glasses as opposed to predisposed to being diabetic, but wouldn't you also prefer one that didn't even need glasses, if it could be helped? Of course, then you're getting awfully close to the debate about how we're practically farming perfect, made-to-order test tube babies, but still. It's something that people care about, and as long as the friend doesn't specifically want Your Baby then I'd imagine they would go for a donor that's as genetically healthy as possible.

I suppose the question is more about whether or not you'd be kind (or whatever) enough to offer, whether or not they accepted, but... it isn't entirely irrelevant.
 
The thing is, everybody has minor stuff like that wrong with them. There is no such thing as a perfectly healthy genotype. If you don't want your kid to be predisposed to glasses, sure, whatever, but what do you want to trade that for? Predisposition towards high blood pressure or asthma? I mean, sure, you could go to a fertility clinic and they would (presumably? No clue how this would actually work) let you shop around donors, you're always going to be making tradeoffs. If it's something big, then obviously you'd want to avoid it, yes, but with minor stuff you'd most likely be looking at what specific minor stuff you'd pick.

...and as long as the friend doesn't specifically want Your Baby then I'd imagine they would go for a donor that's as genetically healthy as possible.
Click to expand...
I didn't make the thread so I can't speak to the point of the question, but I kind of thought that was the idea. I mean, if they didn't want Your Baby, why wouldn't they just go to a clinic and get one there? I don't see any reason why they would ask you unless it was some particular interest in you as a person, in which case I don't think that something like glasses or being a bit overweight would make much difference. I could see if your family had a history of like, cancer or something, then that would be a consideration (but even then... I don't think anybody has a spotless genetic history, either!), but I'm not so sure without actual engineering it's practically feasible to do much in terms of genetic control.

Edit: Not to mention that a lot of things only matter in combination, and we're not even getting into hypothetical couple's own health issues. The kid could be screwed no matter what.
 
That's true (hence the use of "healthy as possible"); I can't speak for everyone else or what their intentions were in listing whatever's wrong with them, but I personally am pretty sure I'd take glasses over asthma if I could.

And it might not necessarily be that they'd ask you; the friend could just say that they're having trouble conceiving, and you could offer or not. Either way.
 
Pfft, guys; glasses are hot.
And it'd mean your kid'd never end up flying fighter jets while you're left panicking over whether they're safe or not X3

And I kinda assumed that the hypothetical friend wanted Your, uh, zygotes, because they knew and trusted you, but at the same time didn't want your immense involvement with the kid because, well, if they actually wanted Your Kid specifically, they'd be with you.

Sorry to the guys who want naming/godfather/whatever rights, but I'm fairly sure that if a woman asked you to be a donor because her partner couldn't get her pregnant, the last thing she + partner would want would be constant reminders that the kid isn't biologically theirs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom