Sex Cells: The Medical Market for Eggs and Sperm (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780520270954)

Unimaginable until the twentieth century, the clinical practice of transferring eggs and sperm from body to body is now the basis of a bustling market. In Sex Cells, Rene Almeling provides an inside look at how egg agencies and sperm banks do business. Although both men and women are usually drawn to donation for financial reasons, Almeling finds that clinics encourage sperm donors to think of the payments as remuneration for an easy "job." Women receive more money but are urged to regard egg donation in feminine terms, as the ultimate "gift" from one woman to another. Sex Cells shows how the gendered framing of paid donation, as either a job or a gift, not only influences the structure of the market, but also profoundly affects the individuals whose genetic material is being purchased.

Author: Rene Almeling
ISBN-10: 0520270959
ISBN-13: 9780520270954
Publisher: University of California Press
Language: English
Published: 09/20/2011
Pages: 240
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.10w x 0.80d

Review Citation(s):
Chronicle of Higher Education 09/16/2011 pg. 18
Choice 04/01/2012