title: Giving or giving back: new psychosocial insights from sperm donors in France.
abstract: Despite the growing importance of the international scientific literature concerning donor insemination, studies of French samples are rare. We recently had the opportunity to conduct a nationwide study on psychosocial issues related to semen donation in France. In this article, we present the main results of an analysis of the narratives of 33 sperm donors. We examine the meaning they attribute to this experience, their motivations, the social ramifications of their action, and their perspective on the principles of sperm donation in France. We highlight our results by comparing them to those derived from other recent international studies in different legislative contexts. Finally, we suggest a hypothesis regarding donor motivations based on recent literature in social sciences regarding the fundamental role of gift and reciprocity. These issues, particularly the anonymity of gamete donation, are currently at the heart of a national debate related to the expected revision of the French bioethics law.
authors.affiliation: Social Psychology Research Group, Institute of Psychology, University of Lyon, Bron, France. nikos.kalampalikis@univ-lyon2.fr
authors.forename: Nikos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kalampalikis
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fieulaine
authors.forename: Marjolaine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Doumergue
authors.forename: Gaëlle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Deschamps
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013094:Spermatozoa; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000523:psychology*; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement