‘Why do you want to be a donor?’: gender and the production of altruism in egg and sperm donation

In the United States, women and men are paid thousands of dollars to ‘donate’ eggs and sperm through commercial agencies. Previous research on egg and sperm donation generally focuses on either the individual donor's motivations or the structural context of commercial agencies, and is often limited to studying either women or men, precluding a direct, gendered comparison of the production of altruistic rhetoric in assisted reproduction. Drawing on qualitative interviews and observation of staff at two egg donation agencies and one sperm bank in California, I demonstrate how staff advise donors about providing gender-appropriate responses on donor profiles, which results in measurable differences in the percentage of women and men who report altruistic and financial motivations (n = 638 profiles). This study contributes to economic sociology and the sociology of gender by demonstrating the extent to which reported motivations on donor profiles are produced through staff/donor interaction in the gendered organizations of egg donation agencies and sperm banks.