David Brooks has an interesting op-ed column in today’s New York Times about the hazards of buying your offspring’s genetic material from a sperm bank. “What if parents are perpetually buying genes on the downward slope?” he wonders. “After all, for maximum success, you don’t want President Kennedy’s genes. You want Joseph Kennedy’s genes. You don’t want Bill Clinton’s genes. You want his father’s genes. What if we get the national equivalent of the 38th generation of the House of Windsor?
Harlyn Aizley explores related issues in her breezy memoir, Buying Dad: One Woman’s Search for the Perfect Sperm Donor (Alyson, $14.95, paperback), reviewed on this site on Oct. 19, 2006 http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2006/10/19/. Aizley and her lesbian partner found that “buying sperm is much like shopping at Sam’s Club or Costco.” But actually getting pregnant with those store-bought sperm proved much harder. Aizley’s wisecracking tone won’t appeal to everyone, but her step-by-step account of her experiences could be enlightening to both gay and straight parents who are considering this method of conception.
(c) 2007 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.
And then there’s the plane fare for you and your kid to attend those House of Windsor sibling registry reunion parties at the palace.
Comment by unsignedmasterpiece — August 11, 2008 @ 12:53 pm |