Why do you think there are sperm banks but no egg banks for humans?

Question

A woman can just go to a sperm bank and use the sperm for artifical insemination and have a child but the same is not possible in case of a man.

Is this because of biology or gender politics?

Answer 1

As others have said, the procedure to obtain one egg from a woman is much more complex than the procedure to obtain millions of sperm from a man. And artificial wombs can only sustain embryos for just a couple of weeks. You need a human female to carry the donated egg. The term "test tube baby" means the sperm and egg were joined outside of the woman's body, and then implanted into her uterus.

Answer 2

Probably biology.  What are you going to inseminate a man with?  And why?

Answer 3

I understand it is a lot more difficult to extract an egg from a woman than it is to get sperm out of a man.  Besides, if a man wants to have a child it's not just a matter of finding an egg, he's got to find a woman who's willing to carry it.

Answer 4

Well, there are egg banks. They just don't work the same way as sperm banks. So, I say biology.

A man would be hard pressed to walk into a place and have an egg put inside him. He needs the bakery so to speak. It's different for a woman, who has the bakery & just needs the little swimmers.

It's nature's way of balancing the "men stand up to pee" thing. LOL

Answer 5

guys like to get paid to jerk?

Answer 6

Can a woman 'just go to a sperm bank' - I haven't done it, but I doubt that it is that simple.

Also, to quote Life Of Brian: 'Where's the foetus going to gestate - you going to keep it in a box?'

Answer 7

Both, however I'm against sperm banks. There are children in this country that could benefit from a stable foster family. Instead some couples that have issues with reproduction view it as raising "someone else's" child and not "their own" therefore they lean towards artificial insemination. Its sad really. Some of those children have the potential to do great things, instead, couples are so predominately obsessed and blinded with passing their own genetic material through a turkey baster than to take a chance on an orphan lost in the system.

Answer 8

I know you are thinking that it's  a gender equality issue but it really is simple biology.

For men, to give sperm it's actually a pleasant thing - he just has to m********e and deposit the sperm into a cup. But donating eggs is a very complicated process. You have to be cetain what day opf your cycle to have it done, just at the moment when the egg is ready to be released. Then tnhey have to make an incision in your abdomen and use an instrument to get the egg out of your ovary. This is very painful.

I personally would be more than happy to donate my eggs (especially for money!!!) as I do not want children so I think it's unfair that I am fertile and not wanting kids, and other people are desperate for a baby and are infertile.

Do you think there would be sperm banks if they had to do a painful operation by removing your sperm out of your testicles, I don't think so!

Answer 9

its because its biology women feel the need to reproduce and care for, while guys just want to shag

Answer 10

What I want to know is why it is legal to sell your sperm but illegal to sell your eggs, or your body for s*x, for that matter - why is capitalism only a bad thing when it's making women richer?  :-)

Answer 11

This is a very good question.

It is also very sexist to make it possible for single women to have babies, but not make it possible for single men.

Star for you.

Answer 12

Men can't give birth to a baby, so they have no use for eggs, but in the future it will be possible to grow a baby in an artificial womb, in some kind of a laboratory glass chamber.

In the future we won't even need eggs anymore, we can just create eggs and sperm from skin cells, and if you want, you can make eggs and sperm from your own skin cells, so that you will be both the mother and father to the baby.

I read this in a science magazine.

Answer 13

And where are you going to grow it?   Just uniting the sperm and  the egg doesn't get you anywhere unless there is a uterus to let it develop.  

However, men can and do hire surrogates.

Answer 14

Its biology.

Most women only produce 1-2 eggs at a time each month. And in order to produce more, the woman has to shot full of hormones and other drugs to produce more eggs.And then there is the issue of going in there to take them out, its alot of work for a small batch of eggs.

However, men can donate sperm hand over fist.

So, its biology.