Sessions at a Glance 

In the first session, "Kinship, Genes, and New Relationships," we invite Stine Willum ADRIAN, a Danish scholar based in Norway known for her research on the history and regulation of sperm banks in Denmark, to open the discussion. She will explore how the integration of DNA testing technology and social media platforms in Denmark has affected the anonymous donation system, thereby reconstructing notions of genetics and kinship. SEMBA Yukari, a co-founder of Donor Link Japan and a researcher at Ochanomizu University, will report on recent changes in public opinion, policymakers' positions, and donor-conceived children's views on the openness of donor information. Cal VOLKS, a PhD candidate from Australia with experiences in reproductive counseling, will share findings about early contact (before the age of 18) between egg donors and their donor conceived children and recipient parents.

In the second session, "Donor Experiences," Taiwanese sociologist HUANG Yu-Ling, who has long focused on Taiwan's egg and sperm donation regulation, will illustrate how the law, kinship culture, and the practices of local IVF clinics collectively shape Taiwan's anonymous donation framework. Petra NORDQVIST, a Swedish sociologist based in the UK, who has published two books on how egg and sperm donation affects the relationships and daily lives of donors, recipients and their families, will discuss how donors communicate their donation decisions to their families, revealing the process through which donors negotiate between personal autonomy and reproductive connectedness.

In the third session, "Historical Development and Governance of Gamete Donation," we will examine the development and institutional changes of egg and sperm donation through historical perspectives and the critical lens of population governance. YUI Hideki, a researcher in the history of science and bioethics from Japan, will explore the historical contexts of the Japanese medical community's involvement in developing artificial insemination techniques before World War II, as well as the legal and ethical controversies that arose after the birth of the first child conceived through donated sperm in 1949. TSUGE Azumi, who has long studied the social issues surrounding reproductive technology, will analyze how Japan's population policies to boost the country's low birth rates are intertwined with assisted reproductive technologies, leading to the discourse of "egg aging." Additionally, she will discuss how Japanese women navigate societal and cultural expectations in making (or not making) reproductive decisions. Drawing on the theoretical framework of anticipatory governance, Taiwanese sociologist WU Chia-Ling will investigate how various stakeholders have shaped Taiwan's anonymous donation system since the 1950s and how the growing emphasis on the right to know the origins of donor-conceived children and the actions taken by single women and same-sex couples embarking on cross-border reproductive journeys are reshaping Taiwan's regulatory framework for egg and sperm donation.

In the fourth session, "Life Experiences and Connectivities," we will focus on egg recipients and surrogates. In Japan, where egg donation is still relatively rare, intended parents often travel overseas for donor eggs. SHIRAI Chiaki, who specializes in maternal and reproductive issues from a life-course perspective, will share a case study on a Japanese woman who became a mother through egg donation. Through long-term follow-up interviews, she will illustrate how the mother's views on donation, genetics, and disclosure of origins have evolved through her social relationships and interactions with the society. KOKADO Minori, a scholar in the regulation of reproductive technologies and bioethics, will present her research based on interviews with egg recipients who have obtained eggs domestically or internationally to understand their perspectives on potential half-siblings born from the same donor, as well as how they communicate this information to their children. Taiwanese legal scholar REI Wenmay draws on feminist legal philosopher Catharine Mackenzie's concepts of vulnerability and relational autonomy to propose a governance framework for surrogacy that seeks to balance the interests of surrogates, fetuses, and commissioning couples.

Finally, in the fifth session, "Transnational Reproduction and Racial Politics," we will extend the scope of discussion to the global assisted reproductive industry. Andrea WHITTAKER, a medical anthropologist from Australia, will present her fieldwork on the South African egg donation market. Her research reveals that local young women often donate eggs for economic reasons, yet the "high-quality" eggs are often frozen and exported overseas without the donors' knowledge or any additional compensation. At the same time, South Africa's high-quality IVF services and the availability of diverse racial oocytes have made it a popular destination among women seeking donor eggs from Australia, the United States, and other African countries. CHEN Jung, a PhD candidate in sociology at Cambridge University, proposes the concept of "race as a technology" to examine how Taiwanese gay fathers select the races of donated eggs to create queer families that can "fit in" with Taiwanese society. Gender studies scholar HU Yu-Ying will present her research on how Taiwanese lesbians "choreograph" their transnational assisted reproductive journeys, highlighting the medical risks and the inequalities in economic and sociocultural capital involved in the process.

Policy Forum 

In recent years, an increasing number of Taiwanese families have been formed through the use of donated sperm or egg. However, due to socio-cultural norms and a regulatory framework that favors anonymous donation, there has been a persistent lack of discussion on how to support donor-conceived families and ensure children's right to know their origins. As Taiwan is now moving toward amending its Assisted Reproduction Act, how can policymakers, legislators, and relevant social groups create a balanced system that protects both the rights of donor-conceived children and the privacy of donors? Moreover, how can parents of donor-conceived children explain to them the unique way they came into the world, made possible through the collaboration of many individuals? This policy forum brings together TAI Yu-Zu (legal scholar), HO Hsin-Yi (physician), PAI Li-Fang (social worker), and LI Hsuan-Ping (LGBTQ activist), to address the challenges posed by the current anonymous system of gamete donation. They will also discuss how the experiences of various forms of families in communicating with their children about their origins can serve as valuable insights for the amendment.

About the Artist

Before joining NTHU, transpossum did her PhD in Queensland University of Technology and has been a postdoc for many years in National Taiwan University and National Taiwan University Hospital, focused on genetic engineering, gene therapy, genomics, and next-generation sequencing. Since 2019, she runs the BioArt Laboratory in the College of Arts, National Tsing-Hua University (NTHU) of Taiwan. Her works Needle Therapy, Blood Power Station, HEREiAM™, EdiGenics, and Intergrass applied medical(-like) procedures, biotechniques, and genetic engineering to explore the distortion of perception, the limitation of technology, and the crossover of freedom and control.  

Poster Designer: Awai