Mixed Race Studies

Racial Classification Regarding Semen Donor Selection in Brazil

Developing World Bioethics
Volume 7, Issue 2 (August 2007)
pages 104–111
DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-8847.2007.00192.x

Rosely Gomes Costa, Pós-doutorado em Ciências Sociais pela
Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) e pela Universidade Autônoma de Barcelona (Espanha)

Brazil has not yet approved legislation on assisted reproduction. For this reason, clinics, hospitals and semen banks active in the area follow Resolution 1358/92 of the Conselho Federal de Medicina, dated 30 September 1992. In respect to semen donation, the object of this article, the Resolution sets out that gamete donation shall be anonymous, that is, that the donor and recipients (and the children who might subsequently be born) shall not be informed of each other’s identity. Thus, since recipients are unaware of the donor’s identity, semen banks and the medical teams involved in assisted reproduction become the intermediaries in the process. The objective of this article is to show that, in practice, this represents disrespect for the ethical principles of autonomy, privacy and equality. The article also stresses that the problem is compounded by the racial question. In a country like Brazil, where racial classification is so flexible and goes side by side with racist attitudes, the intermediary role played by semen banks and medical teams is conditioned by their own criteria of racial classification, which are not always the same as those of donors and semen recipients. The data presented in this paper were taken from two semen banks located in the city of São Paulo (Brazil). At the time of my research, they were the only semen banks in the state of São Paulo and supplied semen to the capital (São Paulo city), the state of São Paulo, and to cities in other Brazilian states where semen banks were not available.

Read or purchase the article here.

Miscegenation, Racialization and Gender (Mestiçagem, Racialização e Gênero)

Sociologias
Number 21 (Porto Alegre Jan./June 2009)
pages 94-120
DOI: 10.1590/S1517-45222009000100006
ISSN 1517-4522

Rosely Gomes Costa, Pós-doutorado em Ciências Sociais pela
Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) e pela Universidade Autônoma de Barcelona (Espanha)

This paper reflects on the paradox of a mestizo Brazil and the close relationship between racialization and gender through the analysis of classic and current authors. The article discusses the different processes involved in these authors’ study of racialization, based both on theory and their empirical researches; and considers the intertwining of these two concepts with that of gender. Throughout the paper, the author draws comparisons and makes comments on her own field research on the subject.

O artigo contém uma reflexão sobre o paradoxo do Brasil mestiço e sobre as estreitas relações entre racialização e gênero a partir da análise de alguns autores clássicos e outros atuais. O artigo analisa os processos distintos de elaboração da racialização por que passam esses autores, às vezes de forma teórica e outras vezes baseada em suas pesquisas empíricas e, ainda, uma reflexão do entrelaçamento desses dois conceitos com o de gênero. Em alguns momentos, faço comparações e comentários relativos à minha própria pesquisa de campo sobre o tema.

Read the entire article (in Portuguese) here.