Veerle Provoost: Do kids think of sperm donors as family?
韋爾萊·普羅沃斯特: 小孩視捐精者為同一家人嗎?
Veerle Provoost studies genetic and social parenthood in the context of donor conception. Full bio
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about the sperm donation?
有關捐精的事情?
to as "biological fathers,"
be using the word "father?"
about the concept of parenthood.
父母身份概念的問題。
about what I learned
及小孩交談中學到了什麼。
what matters most in a family,
一個家庭最重要的是什麼,
looks a little different.
of dealing with tough questions.
他們以創意來處理棘手問題的方式,
the parents' uncertainties.
這些父母的疑惑。
接受生育治療的夫婦,
at Ghent University Hospital,
at which we conducted interviews.
我們進行訪談的兩個時間點。
did not have good-quality sperm,
needed to find sperm elsewhere.
的女同性戀夫婦。
like parenthood and family.
諸如父母身份與家庭的概念。
philosophical questions
as possible to the interview,
if it were an apple tree?
那會看起來像什麼?
for everyone who, in their view,
代表他們眼中的家庭成員之一,
and hang it wherever they wanted.
並將它掛在他們想掛的位置,
with a parent or a sibling.
started mentioning the donor.
into the family?"
你如何來到這個家庭呢?」
who have spare seeds.
mentioning the donor,
using their own words.
詢問有關捐精者的問題。
for the friendly man with the seeds,
代表那位給種子的善心男士,
up there with the others.
because my family would not be here,
constructed family tales --
with family narratives.
who made books --
throughout the treatment.
整個治療過程的想法和感受,
parking tickets in there.
把你的家庭故事告訴孩子。
and how deeply loved their child was.
that these children are doing fine.
more problems than other kids.
to justify their decisions
would understand their reasons
會理解用這方式來建立家庭。
that their children might disapprove
可能反對並排斥非親生的父母,
非常異性戀和基因化的社會──
of one mom, one dad
but not part of our study.
但並非我們研究中的一員。
with his father,
the parents in our study feared.
and they made up.
接著他們就言歸於好。
that is most interesting.
with the lack of a genetic link.
is a little different.
what's best for their child.
long before they even were parents.
是早在成為父母之前就存在了。
to the counselor,
the advice they were given.
not unless he asks,
有很大不同。
to children's questions.
and she's made in the same way.
她和我一樣是捐精受孕的。
I just go and ask her."
what they had in mind,
是如何重要時,輔導員心中盤算的。
it is to be an open-communication family.
we gather evidence first.
我們會先收集證據。
what this pill is doing
這藥丸的作用
的建議而言,都是不夠好的。
that is theoretically sound,
that there is evidence for --
improves patients' lives.
would now like to offer you a paradox:
現在要提供各位一個悖論:
to the warmth we found in those families.
and the trip to the farmer?
和帶孩子到農場去嗎?
as members of families,
are warm relationships.
professionals to create those.
we can do with some advice.
that works for your family.
because you live your family life.
因為你生活在你家庭中。
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