Psychology

Female-partnered women conceiving kinship: Does sharing a sperm donor mean we are family?

Document Type

Article

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This qualitative study explored how 36 initially female-partnered mothers defined their own, and their children's, relationships with families who share their unknown sperm donor (i.e., “linked” families). Shared genetics among children were sometimes sufficient to describe relationships among linked families as familial, especially from the children's perspectives. Most women described their own relationships with linked families as significant but not necessarily in traditional family terms. Family terms were sometimes seen as undermining ties to siblings and genetically unrelated mothers. As shared experiences have come to define “chosen family,” definitions of significant relationships must expand to include those defined by shared genetics alone.

Publication Title

Journal of Lesbian Studies

Publication Date

2016

Volume

20

Issue

3-4

First Page

427

Last Page

441

ISSN

1089-4160

DOI

10.1080/10894160.2016.1089382

Keywords

donor insemination, donor-linked families, female-partnered, kinship, lesbian

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