Veerle Provoost: Do kids think of sperm donors as family?
비얼리 프로보스트: 아이들은 정자 기증자를 가족으로 생각할까요?
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.
about the sperm donation?
아이에게 그 사실을 털어놓아야 할까요?
to as "biological fathers,"
be using the word "father?"
말할 수 있을까요?
여러 의문들을 연구해 왔습니다.
about the concept of parenthood.
about what I learned
그 사이에 태어난 자녀들을 면담하며
what matters most in a family,
그들이 가장 소중히 여겼던 가치가
looks a little different.
of dealing with tough questions.
극복했는지 알려드리겠습니다.
the parents' uncertainties.
가지고 있는지 말씀드리려고 해요.
받은 부부들을 면담했습니다.
at Ghent University Hospital,
at which we conducted interviews.
이루어졌습니다.
상태가 좋지 못한 경우였고
did not have good-quality sperm,
needed to find sperm elsewhere.
레즈비언 커플도 참여했습니다.
면담에 포함시켰습니다.
의미를 어떻게 정의하는가였습니다.
like parenthood and family.
질문을 하진 않았습니다.
사과나무를 그려줬어요.
philosophical questions
철학적인 질문을 할 수 있었습니다.
않도록 하면서도 말이죠.
여실히 보여주고 있습니다.
이끌어 낼 수 있었습니다.
as possible to the interview,
if it were an apple tree?
나무는 어떤 모습일까?
for everyone who, in their view,
생각하는 가족 구성원의 수만큼
and hang it wherever they wanted.
나무 안 원하는 곳에 매달아 두죠.
형제를 제일 먼저 설명합니다.
with a parent or a sibling.
가장 먼저 설명한 아이도 있었습니다.
started mentioning the donor.
정자를 기증한 사람은 얘기하지 않았죠.
태어났는지를 물었습니다.
엄마와 아빠만 있었거나
into the family?"
됐는지 설명해줄래?"
who have spare seeds.
병원으로 가지고 와서
하나는 여동생 것이었죠.
mentioning the donor,
말하기 시작하면
using their own words.
이렇게 질문을 이어갔습니다.
for the friendly man with the seeds,
혼잣말처럼 말하더라고요.
붙이지 않을 거예요.
up there with the others.
because my family would not be here,
constructed family tales --
수의사를 보여줬어요.
with family narratives.
who made books --
throughout the treatment.
부부의 생각과 감정을 담고 있었어요.
parking tickets in there.
가족 이야기를 만든 것이죠.
너무나 원했던 부모들이
떠나는 내용이었죠.
and how deeply loved their child was.
여기는지에 대한 내용이었습니다.
that these children are doing fine.
잘 성장하는 것으로 나타났습니다.
more problems than other kids.
문제를 일으키지도 않았죠.
to justify their decisions
자신들의 결정을 설명하고 싶었습니다.
would understand their reasons
왜 이 방법을 선택했는지를
that their children might disapprove
부모라며 거부할지 모른다는 것이었어요.
of one mom, one dad
아이들로 구성된다고 믿으니까요.
들려드리겠습니다.
저희 연구에 참여하진 않았죠.
but not part of our study.
with his father,
the parents in our study feared.
부모들이 두려워한 것이었어요.
and they made up.
그들은 다시 화해했죠.
that is most interesting.
아버지의 반응이었습니다.
with the lack of a genetic link.
없는 것과는 전혀 관계없어요.
생각해서는 안 된다는 것입니다.
is a little different.
what's best for their child.
long before they even were parents.
이런 불안감을 갖고 있습니다.
먼저 전문 상담사와 면담을 하게 되죠.
to the counselor,
the advice they were given.
not unless he asks,
저희는 굳이 답하지 않을 거예요.
어려울 수 있으니까요.
to children's questions.
다를 수도 있을 겁니다.
만들어져요?"라고 물으면
진심을 알아차렸을 거예요.
and she's made in the same way.
받아 태어난 여자 아이가 있는데요.
I just go and ask her."
그 아이에게 묻곤 해요."
what they had in mind,
it is to be an open-communication family.
얼마나 중요한지를 보여줍니다.
약의 효능을 먼저 알아야 하죠.
we gather evidence first.
what this pill is doing
정확히 알아야 하기 때문이죠.
미치는지도 알아야 하고요.
that is theoretically sound,
that there is evidence for --
있는지가 입증되어야 하죠.
improves patients' lives.
would now like to offer you a paradox:
제안을 하나 하고자 합니다.
잘못됐다는 것은 아닙니다.
to the warmth we found in those families.
것들이 옳다고도 할 수 없고요.
and the trip to the farmer?
농장 견학을 말씀드렸죠?
as members of families,
이루어졌는가 하는 것보다
are warm relationships.
갖는 것이 중요합니다.
professionals to create those.
더 잘 해낼 수 있겠죠.
we can do with some advice.
that works for your family.
조언을 적용하세요.
because you live your family life.
여러분 자신임을 기억하세요.
and your creativity,
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