{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,24]],"date-time":"2025-09-24T19:10:12Z","timestamp":1758741012771,"version":"3.44.0"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,25]],"date-time":"2022-04-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1650844800000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Birkbeck College Institutional Strategic Support Fund","award":["204770\/Z\/16\/Z"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["204770\/Z\/16\/Z"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010269","name":"Wellcome Trust","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["204770\/Z\/16\/Z"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["204770\/Z\/16\/Z"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010269","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Med Humanities"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,7]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Is biology and knowing biological ancestral information essential to the construction of identity? Bioethicist James David Velleman believes this is the case and argues that donor gamete conception is immoral because a portion of genetic heritage will be unknown. Velleman is critical of sperm donation and the absence of a biological father in donor-assisted families. His bioethical work, specifically the 2005 article \u2018Family History\u2019, is oft-cited in articles debating the ethics surrounding gamete donations and diverse family formations. However, I wonder to what extent Velleman\u2019s ethical stance is exhibited in contemporary culture? Velleman suggests that innate knowledge of bio-superiority helps readers and audiences appreciate the importance of biological family structures in literature and film; he says, \u2018When people deny the importance of biological ties, I wonder how they can read world literature with any comprehension\u2019 (2005, 369). Velleman understands the stories of Oedipus, Moses, Telemachus and Luke Skywalker as demonstrating a universal cultural comprehension that genetics are essential to identity construction. I adopt Velleman\u2019s list of stories and ask if they really can support an antidonation sentiment and suggest that most of the stories actually support diverse family structures. By exploring the significance of story-telling in cultural understandings of family and identity, it is possible to identify the ways in which story-telling can impact how society negotiates complex issues such as assisted reproduction, donor conception and donor industry regulation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2021-012328","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,23]],"date-time":"2022-05-23T11:55:42Z","timestamp":1653306942000},"page":"e18-e18","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Fatherlessness, sperm donors and \u2018so what?\u2019 parentage: arguing against the immorality of donor conception through \u2018world literature\u2019"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"48","author":[{"given":"Grace","family":"Halden","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of English, Theatre and Creative Writing, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025092411302754000_48.4.e18.1","unstructured":"Abrams J. 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