READER N. writes:

You may find this article in First Things interesting. It is a discussion of the current movie The Kids Are Alright in which children of a pair of lesbians locate the man who is their “father” via semen donation.

Elizabeth Marquardt writes:

“A recent study of donor-conceived adults … found that, overall, donor offspring are hurting more, more confused, and more isolated from their families compared to those who
are adopted or raised by their biological parents. Two-thirds say, “My sperm donor is half of who I am,” even though few know who that donor is. They are significantly more likely than other children to be struggling with problems like substance abuse, delinquency, and depression.

In The Kids are All Right, the actors benefit from a script. In real life, there is no script for these kids. It’s up to them to figure everything out and make the best of it. The person whom a child rightly considers her father is a man who might well believe—probably does believe—that he is just a “donor.” That is not—at all—all right.

Laura writes:

Here is another example of an issue that is obfuscated by social science studies, as discussed in the previous entry. Do we really need a study to tell us that children conceived in this way will someday experience an identity crisis or that men who donate their sperm anonymously, to just anyone who wants a baby, are lacking in empathy? 

Marquardt explains why the movie is based on fantasy instead of reality.

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