Barbara Kay: Height restrictions at the sperm bank ("The commodification of sperm")

Article here. Excerpt:

'Googling desperately, I came upon an informational tidbit that proved excellent (and only slightly ribald) fodder for debate laughs, but also seems an apt take-off point for my yearly Fatherless Day column, namely: Most sperm banks will not accept donations from men who stand under 5’ 11” in height.

The sperm-seekers whose demand has produced this height restriction aren’t giggly teenagers or desperate housewives addicted to Harlequin romances. They are strong, autonomous, educated, middle class, not-so-young women of ambition with support systems and resources sufficient to the logistical demands of child-rearing.
...
We now take for granted the technology of alternate reproductive initiatives that marginalize men’s contribution to the family, and by extension to society. But we shouldn’t. Every child born with only half an identity — the mother’s — is a reproach to our decision, which began with the advent of the birth control pill in 1959, to privilege the sexual and reproductive rights of adults over the rights of children. For “adults,” read “women.”

Men took their cues from women. They soon internalized the feminist message that they had many responsibilities as fathers, but unlike mothers no natural rights, a rubric borne out in higher court judgments and countless custody narratives. Men’s biological and social value, and their relationship to their issue, has for some time been contingent on women’s wishes and perceived needs.'

Ed. note: The same article appears in the same paper under the headline 'The commodification of sperm'.