A SPERM BANK in the UK called the London Sperm Bank has created an app that functions a lot like Tinder, except that it matches women with potential sperm donors as opposed to potential dates. It’s been aptly nicknamed “Order A Daddy.”
According to Mashable, the app makes it easy to sort through different desired characteristics, such as height, weight, eye color, skin tone, ethnicity, nationality, religion, personality type, and even interests. That’s a little more detailed than a lot of dating apps, but apparently all is fair when you’re trying to build the perfect child.
Unlike traditional dating apps, however, there are no photos involved in the process since the identity of sperm donors is always kept private. The app does include a bio written in the form of “Our Impression,” so at least swipers can build a more cohesive idea of what a potential donor’s personality might be like.
If a user finds a perfect match right off the bat, all that person has to do next is pay the sperm fee (also through the app), and the sample will be on its way to a registered clinic of their choice. If he or she does not find the ideal donor at the time, the app will save their desired requirements and alert them when someone new comes along who fits the bill.
The process sounds a bit casual, especially with the comparisons to Tinder, but every guy that’s listed on the app has been vetted by the British Andrology society, the British Fertility Society, and the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA). To be listed on the app, the sperm must be free of genetic conditions, diseases, and infections, and must be viable enough to be frozen for later use.
Still, critics question the practice and call into question the trivialization of such a serious decision involving a future child. Then again, plenty of children are born out of trivial and chaotic relationships (or one night stands), and single-parent households have become just as common as their more traditional two-parent counterparts. Who’s to say, really, that there’s a right or a wrong way to bring a child into the world?
What the app does provide, certainly, is a bit of control for someone in the market for sperm, and in such a way that it can be done from the privacy of their own home. Or while commuting on the tube, or getting coffee, or wherever they might use any other app.
The London Sperm Bank is the largest sperm provider in the UK, and has about 10,000 vials of sperm available at any given time. That sounds like a lot of sperm, but it’s still actually lower than demand calls for, so they are always accepting new donors who fit the bill.
