New Ways of Creating Families

As engaged researchers, we are committed to finding ways to connect our research with wider society – to get beyond academic outlets so our findings reach more diverse publics. This seems especially important with online sperm donation where there is a lack of awareness among many in society. And, as we’ve been learning, a fair amount of misinformation about it too.

 

One approach that a member of the research team, David Carless, and his colleagues have used in previous research is film. Film allows us to move away from the written word, to tell people’s stories with more intimacy, humanity, and aliveness. It’s a form of communication that most of us are used to engaging with, often on a daily basis. It is also a form that, since the advent of YouTube, is widely accessible – it reaches into our daily lives, wherever we are and whenever we press play.

 

In the context of research, film raises some ethical considerations. Such as: How can we preserve participants’ anonymity? How can we be sure that the stories we tell through our films are faithful to participants’ lives? For our film New Ways of Creating Families, we have worked with participants and our public involvement group to address these questions.

 

The film focuses on the experiences of two research participants, one recipient and one donor. It recounts moments from their stories, as shared during research interviews. For authenticity and precision, the words spoken in the film are verbatim – they are the actual words each participant used to tell us about their lives. To protect their anonymity, as our ethical approval requires, we have taken two steps:

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1. Certain details (such as names and places) have been removed or changed;

2. Their testimonies have been performed by research team member, David Carless, who performs the part of Martin, and an actor, Rosie Akerman, who performs the part of Lucy.

 

To explore whether the film is faithful to lived experiences of online sperm donation, we have shared it with the recipient and donor who took part in the research, as well as with our public involvement group. The donor responded:

 

“Wow!! I wasn't expecting this, but it was so professionally produced and so accurately portrayed. I'm very happy for you to share the video with a wider audience ... I thought you gave a very balanced view of what men and women are trying to get out of sperm donation.”

 

If you would like to share your thoughts on the film with us, please provide feedback here