ABSTRACT
The chapter explores the mothers’ knowledge sharing and debates over their choice of donor sperm (sperm donations fall into two categories: ‘anonymous’ and ‘open’). Narratives of ‘missing fathers’ dominate, but solo mothers do not necessarily long for husbands but for fathers for their children, in order to fit into the norm of the nuclear family. Coupledom trumps heterosexuality in contemporary reproduction and marks single parents as more marginalised than homosexual couples. Discussion and fantasy about donor sperm support the performance of ideal motherhood. Constructions of motherhood are investigated historically, and the chapter documents how the prioritisation of children’s interests and rights have been used ideologically to discipline and promote particular forms of parenting and reproductive politics. Access to assisted reproduction (ART/ MAR) is regulated via the ‘best interest of the child’, and this has been closely linked to heterosexuality as a norm and ideal. The importance of fathers is interpreted as a special Scandinavian feature, as active fatherhood is an integrated part of the ideal of Scandinavian gender equality. Finally, women’s reproduction and reproductive labour is contrasted with gay fathers parenting via surrogacy.
