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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Science
Robyn Vinter

‘They treat men like vending machines’: inside the hidden world of social media sperm selling

Young bearded man in a dark blue vest, only bottom of his face visible, on laptop at night
Sperm donor groups are flourishing on social media, and they offer people the chance to become parents in an unregulated and dangerous but straightforward way. Photograph: Getty Images

A man going by the name “Rod Kissme” claims to have “very strong sperm”. It may seem like an eccentric boast for a Facebook profile page, but then this is no mundane corner of the internet. The group where Rod and other men advertise themselves is a community where women and couples come, in many cases, to fulfil a lifelong dream: parenthood.

There is a growing number of online sperm donor groups on social media. They offer people the chance of parenting children in an unregulated, dangerous but surprisingly straightforward way.

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