Podcasts
You Look Like Me by Louise McLoughlin
Donor conceived journalist, Louise McLoughlin, delves deeper into the secrets, discoveries, and lives of donor conceived people while trying to find the man who, presumably, looks like her.
Biohacked: Family Secrets by T.J. Raphael
BioHacked tells startling true stories of the people caught between two multi-trillion-dollar industries — medicine and technology — and chronicles how their lives are transformed. In season 1, the children of anonymous sperm and egg donors — some with dozens or hundreds of half-siblings — take on the fertility industry.
Message in a Bottle by Kaleigh Karnal
Hosted by college senior and pretend journalist Kaleigh Karnal, the Message in a Bottle podcast investigates the anonymous sperm donation industry, one person at a time.She sits down with her own sperm donor father, half-siblings, and other members of the donor conceived community to talk about how at-home DNA kits can turn your life upside down, the dangerous realities of the industry, navigating new family relationships, and much more.
Documentaries
*note that the DCAC does not necessarily endorse the films listed below, but is simply providing this list to allow others to do their own research and form their own opinions
Offspring (2001) by Barry Stevens, a Canadian donor-conceived person
Bio-Dad (2009) by Barry Stevens
Donor Unknown (2010) by Jerry Rothwell
Eggsploitation: The infertility industry has a dirty little secret (2010) by Jennifer Lahl, The Center for Bioethics and Culture
Anonymous Father’s Day (2013) by Jennifer Lahl, The Center for Bioethics and Culture
Sperm Donors Anonymous (2015) by Lucy Paplinska
Mother Father Donor Child (2017) by Maria Arlamovsky
Thank you for Coming (2018) by Sarah Lamm
World’s Biggest Family (2020) by Barry Stevens, on CBC Docs POV
Future People: The Family of Donor 5114 (2021) by Michael Rothman
Books
Experiences of Donor Conception: Parents, Offspring and Donors Through the Years (2003) by Caroline Lorbach
Who Am I? Experiences of Donor Conception (2006) by Alexina McWhinnie
The Genius Factory (2006) by David Plotz
Go Ask Your Father: One Man’s Obsession with Finding His Origins Through DNA Testing (2009) by Lennard J. Davis
The Right to Know One’s Origins: Assisted Human Reproduction and the Best Interests of Children (2013) by Juliet Guichon, Michelle Giroux, and Ian Mitchell *Canadian perspective*
Relative Strangers: Family Life, Genes and Donor Conception (2014) by Petra Nordqvist and Carol Smart
Scattered Seeds: In Search of Family and Identity in the Sperm Donor Generation (2017) by Jacqueline Mroz
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love (2020) by Dani Shapiro, a donor-conceived person
Brave New Humans: The Dirty Reality of Donor Conception (2021) by Sarah Dingle, a donor-conceived person
Uprooted: Uprooted: Family Trauma, Unknown Origins, And The Secretive History Of Artificial Insemination (2022) by Peter Boni, a donor-conceived person
Triple Helix: My donor-conceived story (2022) by Lauren Burns
