‘They treat men like vending machines’: Inside the hidden world of social media sperm selling

Parenthood can seem an impossible dream for many, and online sperm donor groups offer a solution, but they can be a murky world

A man going by the name “Rod Kissme” claims to have “very strong sperm”. It may seem like an eccentric boast for a Facebook profile page, but then this is no mundane corner of the internet. The group where Rod and other men advertise themselves is a community where women and couples come, in many cases, to fulfil a lifelong dream: parenthood.

There is a growing number of online sperm donor groups on social media. They offer people the chance of parenting children in an unregulated, dangerous but surprisingly straightforward way.