Selecting sperm by app fuels the twisted eugenic fantasy of the ‘perfect’ child

Sep 28, 2016 by Jill

by Angela Epstein, Telegraph:

Over the years my (naturally) red hair has provided target practice for much of the adolescent humour raging in our house.

Retaliation is sweet. I simply tell my children that red hair skips a generation – as it has done in our family – and that one day they could all be parents to little Ed Sheerans.

The truth is that ginger hair is an acquired taste – for every Nicole Kidman or Lily Cole there’s a Chris Evans ready to diffuse the red is beautiful algorithm.

Good job that the combination of genes a baby will inherit – certainly in terms of its physical appearance – remains an unknown quantity until the child is born.

Not, however, for those using the new app launched this week by the London Sperm Bank. Nicknamed “order a daddy”, the app lets mate-less women choose a sample based on the characteristics of the donor. It also includes a biography of the potential father, containing their educational history, job and personality traits.

So thoughtful. Especially since women using the app can list the characteristics they most desire in a father and can set up alerts when an appropriate person becomes available. (Well you know what the stampede can be like when a blond Latvian body builder with a PhD in nuclear physics decides to do his bit for procreation and pocket).

Read here