Veerle Provoost: Do kids think of sperm donors as family?
Veerle Provoost: Smatraju li djeca donatore sperme članovima obitelji?
Veerle Provoost studies genetic and social parenthood in the context of donor conception. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
s teškim pitanjima
about the sperm donation?
o doniranju sperme?
to as "biological fathers,"
"biološkim očevima",
be using the word "father?"
koristiti riječ "otac"?
about the concept of parenthood.
o konceptu roditeljstva.
about what I learned
what matters most in a family,
što je najvažnije u obitelji
looks a little different.
izgledaju malo drugačije.
of dealing with tough questions.
suočavanja s teškim pitanjima.
the parents' uncertainties.
nesigurnosti roditelja.
at Ghent University Hospital,
bolnici sveučilišta u Ghentu
at which we conducted interviews.
u kojima smo proveli intervjue.
did not have good-quality sperm,
nije imao kvalitetnu spermu
needed to find sperm elsewhere.
trebale pronaći spermu drugdje.
like parenthood and family.
poput roditeljstva i obitelji.
philosophical questions
apstraktna filozofska pitanja
as possible to the interview,
vrlo malo značenja i sadržaja
if it were an apple tree?
da je drvo jabuke?
for everyone who, in their view,
svakoga tko je, prema njihovom mišljenju,
and hang it wherever they wanted.
i stavili ga gdje žele.
with a parent or a sibling.
bratom ili sestrom.
started mentioning the donor.
nije spomenulo donatora.
o njihovom rođenju.
into the family?"
who have spare seeds.
koji imaju viška sjemena.
mentioning the donor,
using their own words.
koristeći njihove riječi.
for the friendly man with the seeds,
ljubaznog čovjeka sa sjemenom,
up there with the others.
because my family would not be here,
jer moje obitelji ne bi bilo,
constructed family tales --
with family narratives.
who made books --
throughout the treatment.
tijekom tretmana.
parking tickets in there.
ispriča svom djetetu.
and how deeply loved their child was.
njihovo dijete posebno i voljeno.
that these children are doing fine.
da je toj djeci dobro.
more problems than other kids.
to justify their decisions
opravdati svoje odluke
would understand their reasons
razumjeti njihove razloge
that their children might disapprove
da njihova djeca neće odobravati
nisu u srodstvu.
of one mom, one dad
jedna majka, jedan otac
but not part of our study.
a nije dio našeg istraživanja.
with his father,
the parents in our study feared.
roditelji u našem istraživanju bojali.
and they made up.
i pomirili su se.
that is most interesting.
najzanimljivije.
with the lack of a genetic link.
s nedostatkom genetske povezanosti."
is a little different.
u svim obiteljima.
what's best for their child.
što je najbolje za njihovo dijete.
long before they even were parents.
prije nego što su uopće postali roditelji.
to the counselor,
the advice they were given.
koji je rekao,
not unless he asks,
dok nas ne pita,
to children's questions.
na dječja pitanja.
pravi li se u tvornici?"
and she's made in the same way.
napravljena je na isti način.
I just go and ask her."
ja pitam nju."
what they had in mind,
it is to be an open-communication family.
biti obitelj s otvorenom komunikacijom.
we gather evidence first.
prvo skupimo dokaze.
what this pill is doing
što ta tableta čini
that is theoretically sound,
koji je teoretski čvrst,
that there is evidence for --
za koje postoje dokazi --
improves patients' lives.
živote pacijenata.
would now like to offer you a paradox:
bi vam željela ponuditi paradoks:
slijediti savjete.
onim što je pošlo po zlu:
to the warmth we found in those families.
koju smo pronašli u tim obiteljima.
and the trip to the farmer?
koje kod njih funkcioniraju
as members of families,
kao članovi obitelji,
are warm relationships.
professionals to create those.
stručnjaci da ih stvorimo.
we can do with some advice.
dobro bi nam došao savjet.
that works for your family.
funkcionira za vašu obitelj.
because you live your family life.
jer vi živite svoj obiteljski život.
and your creativity,
i svoju kreativnost,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Veerle Provoost - BioethicistVeerle Provoost studies genetic and social parenthood in the context of donor conception.
Why you should listen
Veerle Provoost is a professor at the Bioethics Institute Ghent of Ghent University and a member of the Network on Ethics of Families. For her current research she coordinates a team of researchers who work on a study about genetic and social parenthood in the context of donor conception.
Using empirical research methods and Socratic conversation techniques, Provoost studies how professionals and ordinary people reason about health and how they make decisions in health-related contexts. In her courses on empirical research methods for ethics and bioethics, she teaches students how to look beyond mere experiences or general attitudes and to explore the principles and values that guide people's reasoning and decision-making. Her research shows that patients may bring their own sets of principles when making medical decisions, principles that may be very different from what medical staff anticipated and may feature around moral elements that may completely escape the attention of ethicists. For one, the moral reasoning of everyday people is centered more around relationships than around the principles that are at the core of scholarly bioethics.
In her talk TEDxGhent talk, she explains how we can gain valuable insights from families of children conceived with donor sperm and their views about what a family really is. These alternative families teach us what matters most in the decisions we all make for our children, whether or not they are genetically related to us. The parents and children she studied created their own family stories (about how their families were made) in highly diverse but very creative ways. However, some parents thought that they should strictly follow the advice of experts in their communication with their children. Because of that, they discounted their own competence. Based on her research experience, Provoost warns us for the negative effects of problematizing these families. Because no matter what a family looks like, or how it is made, parents should believe in their abilities and their creativity. As they know their families best, they are the real experts in how to find the best way to tell their own family story to their own child.
Veerle Provoost | Speaker | TED.com