Titles that spoil the plot.

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Meh, I still think that they should go for the turkey srynge

I mean, you were close

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Close enough

I'm not sure about "using" a friend, even gay, even if you can trust him.

With a sperm bank, I guess the donor would not be involved at all, but then can lay no claim to the kid.

With a friend, things could turn complicated for a variety of reasons.

I'm not sure about "using" a friend, even gay, even if you can trust him.

With a sperm bank, I guess the donor would not be involved at all, but then can lay no claim to the kid.

With a friend, things could turn complicated for a variety of reasons.

Yes. That's exactly what I thought. I don't know, it was just kind of an 'improper' choice.

Ah, the prevalence of homosexuality does not have much bearing on Japan's declining birth rate. Homosexuals still find ways to reproduce. More ammo for winning future arguments with heterosexual purists.

I find this a rather interesting story. On the one hand it shows how laws are in other countries and how ppl have to struggle with them. On the other hand it makes me look up laws in my own country. And here I thought Germany was rather liberal and rather advanced with their laws. Turns out there is a discussion about this for years. At the moment there is only something called "Stiefkindadoption" (step child adoption?) where one partner can adopt the biological child of her/his partner. Or one of them could adopt a child on their own and their partner would get a limited form of child custody. But apparently same sex partners are not allowed to adopt children together. On the other hand we DO have a law stating that children adopted by BOTH partners in a FOREIGN country have to be recognised by the state and registered as such in official German documents....

My country is weird. cO

last edited at Apr 17, 2017 5:26PM

"If the law supposes that," said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, "the law is a ass - a idiot".

The laws in the western world I've been exposed to vary greatly. In since places, the fact that the insemination was artificial is enough to render the donor's paternity void. In my state, in the US, if a physician's office does the insemination, the donor has no rights and the mother's spouse goes on the birth certificate.

I'm not sure about "using" a friend, even gay, even if you can trust him.

With a sperm bank, I guess the donor would not be involved at all, but then can lay no claim to the kid.

With a friend, things could turn complicated for a variety of reasons.

It is actually a really bad idea to be a sperm donor outside of official channels like a sperm bank. If you have a falling out or with the mother or she falls on hard times or for any reason she can come after you for child support and other things. Even if she doesn't personally the state could force it themselves if she applies for any kind of financial services through it. It has happen before. Even if you make a contract between the parents that she won't that still has a chance of being voided in court.

last edited at Apr 17, 2017 7:43PM

I will prefer if they just get a embrion.

People are emphasizing downsides here, but surely there are up sides to having real humans that you know and trust involved in things as well. Community, extended family, that kind of good stuff. Our society's lack of that stuff is one of its greatest weaknesses and creates a lot of anomie, alienation, mistrust and unhappiness, and LGBT people tend to be in need of strong, loving community more than anyone.

Ok. That NEVER crossed my mind. Wonder what it's like to help bring a life into the world and then not take role of a parent at all. Do you just "shut it all off?" I mean. When they were getting it from a bank with what I assumed was little in the way of knowing the donor was one thing. but to technically have the father kicking around? Look forward to seeing how this progresses. Hopefully for the best!

I was talking to my ex about sperm donors in Japan. She went to a famous Japanese university and was in the medical program. Med student sperm is super sought after because people assume babies from med students at a famous university are more geared towards success. I asked her if she'd ever get sperm from there and she said "FUCK no".

Most famous university's med students tend to be from well-off families. Families that are already rich and very proud of their family history. Families that set their children up for med school from a young age by giving them private tutors and sending them to top-rated private schools. Families that still sometimes plan arranged marriages (omiai) to keep the family name honorable. They would literally go berserk at the school if their kid donated sperm.

So apparently the med students that tend to donate are the really careless ones. Yes, they got into med school (somehow), but they are by no means good people. They look at sperm donation as quick money. They're guys that hide information from their families and often have bad relationships with them. They're the kinds of guys that flaunt their med student ID at bars to convince women to sleep with them. They're the kind of guys with no sense of responsibility or shame. And they tend to drop out of med school after a few years. But none of that information is made available to the people trying to conceive.

I was talking to my ex about sperm donors in Japan. She went to a famous Japanese university and was in the medical program. Med student sperm is super sought after because people assume babies from med students at a famous university are more geared towards success. I asked her if she'd ever get sperm from there and she said "FUCK no".

Most famous university's med students tend to be from well-off families. Families that are already rich and very proud of their family history. Families that set their children up for med school from a young age by giving them private tutors and sending them to top-rated private schools. Families that still sometimes plan arranged marriages (omiai) to keep the family name honorable. They would literally go berserk at the school if their kid donated sperm.

So apparently the med students that tend to donate are the really careless ones. Yes, they got into med school (somehow), but they are by no means good people. They look at sperm donation as quick money. They're guys that hide information from their families and often have bad relationships with them. They're the kinds of guys that flaunt their med student ID at bars to convince women to sleep with them. They're the kind of guys with no sense of responsibility or shame. And they tend to drop out of med school after a few years. But none of that information is made available to the people trying to conceive.

That's kind of funny to read, since you'd think a med student of all people would realize that absolutely zero of that has any impact on the quality of the sperm. Being rich or honourable or having a good relationship with your parents aren't genetic, and being smart enough to get into med school typically isn't a heritable trait. What's relevant is mostly whether they're hiding predisposition to various heritable diseases, the rest is mostly myth.

I find this a rather interesting story. On the one hand it shows how laws are in other countries and how ppl have to struggle with them. On the other hand it makes me look up laws in my own country. And here I thought Germany was rather liberal and rather advanced with their laws. Turns out there is a discussion about this for years. At the moment there is only something called "Stiefkindadoption" (step child adoption?) where one partner can adopt the biological child of her/his partner. Or one of them could adopt a child on their own and their partner would get a limited form of child custody. But apparently same sex partners are not allowed to adopt children together. On the other hand we DO have a law stating that children adopted by BOTH partners in a FOREIGN country have to be recognised by the state and registered as such in official German documents....

My country is weird. cO

At least they changed the part where the "biological father"had to be added to the birth certificate when one person in a lesbian couple got pregnant. Nowadays you can actually have your partner entered as the co-parent instead. Adoption still sucks though, which hits gay couples pretty hard (the co-parent thing is, unsurprisingly, a bit more difficult in their case - we lesbians have a bit of an advantage there).

I'm not sure about "using" a friend, even gay, even if you can trust him.

With a sperm bank, I guess the donor would not be involved at all, but then can lay no claim to the kid.

With a friend, things could turn complicated for a variety of reasons.

Yes. That's exactly what I thought. I don't know, it was just kind of an 'improper' choice.

Depends on the country actually. In some countries, such as Germany, sperm donors do not have guaranteed anonymity. Once the child comes of age, it can demand the files to be opened and obtain the information. This can even lead to child support cases after 18 years...

That's kind of funny to read, since you'd think a med student of all people would realize that absolutely zero of that has any impact on the quality of the sperm. Being rich or honourable or having a good relationship with your parents aren't genetic, and being smart enough to get into med school typically isn't a heritable trait. What's relevant is mostly whether they're hiding predisposition to various heritable diseases, the rest is mostly myth.

That's what you'd think at first, but actually, a sizable part of intelligence is hereditary.

The way you're raised by your parents, your diet, the culture around you, your friends, all that plays, of course, a big part in the way your intelligence develops.

But your potential is hereditary. The very way your brain works at a biological level (synaptic connections and such) is influenced by your genes. So it makes sense to look for a "smart" father, or mother.

But I admit it's a wild gamble, because how genetics work and because kids always have two biological parents, so each one comes with their own heredity.

That's kind of funny to read, since you'd think a med student of all people would realize that absolutely zero of that has any impact on the quality of the sperm. Being rich or honourable or having a good relationship with your parents aren't genetic, and being smart enough to get into med school typically isn't a heritable trait. What's relevant is mostly whether they're hiding predisposition to various heritable diseases, the rest is mostly myth.

That's what you'd think at first, but actually, a sizable part of intelligence is hereditary.

The way you're raised by your parents, your diet, the culture around you, your friends, all that plays, of course, a big part in the way your intelligence develops.

But your potential is hereditary. The very way your brain works at a biological level (synaptic connections and such) is influenced by your genes. So it makes sense to look for a "smart" father, or mother.

But I admit it's a wild gamble, because how genetics work and because kids always have two biological parents, so each one comes with their own heredity.

There's also the fact that we have a very loose grasp - if one at all - on measuring, identifying, or even understanding intelligence.

last edited at Apr 20, 2017 9:51AM

Even if being "smart", however that's defined, is heritable in a reliable way, then it makes sense that those who managed to get into med school without having every advantage lined up for them and being pushed into it by family (no need to be a self-starter) would be a more likely group to qualify as "smart".

But your potential is hereditary. The very way your brain works at a biological level (synaptic connections and such) is influenced by your genes. So it makes sense to look for a "smart" father, or mother.

There's also the fact that we have a very loose grasp - if one at all - on measuring, identifying, or even understanding intelligence.

Yeah, and as far as I'm aware, the only studies purporting to significantly link intelligence and genetics are all relying on IQ tests. So, best case scenario, you can buy yourself a sperm that will grow up to be good at taking IQ tests, but thats about it. I guess it depends on how invested you are in the social capital of being good at one specific intelligence test with a history of critiques of racial and class bias.

last edited at Apr 21, 2017 12:58AM

this chapter was terribly cute ^_^

Yo isn't there a way for two mother's to get pregnant without the use of a donor sperm? I believe it's some new genetic development I was reading about.

Yo isn't there a way for two mother's to get pregnant without the use of a donor sperm? I believe it's some new genetic development I was reading about.

Not even close to being viable, and the likelihood of it being available to lesbians in Japan within a generation even if it was publicly available tomorrow is very unlikely.

That last panel made me legitimately crack up for the first time in a long while lol. I mean, it wasn't super funny by itself, but it was a huge blow on the way the story seemed to be unfolding. I believe that's really what all good comedy comes down to, though.

last edited at May 8, 2017 3:18PM

That's kind of funny to read, since you'd think a med student of all people would realize that absolutely zero of that has any impact on the quality of the sperm. Being rich or honourable or having a good relationship with your parents aren't genetic

Come to think of it, I doubt there have been a lot of studies on the heritability of honour. So I wouldn't expect we know either way. There are studies indicating a correlation between dishonour and wealth, so clearly there's a learned component there, but that doesn't necessarily preclude genetic influence . . .