Essays from more than thirty experts on the complexities and controversies at the nexus of sperm, health, and politics.

Forthcoming from New York University Press in June 2025. Order here. 

In Seminal, experts from across the social sciences, humanities, law, and medicine offer a kaleidoscopic view of the relationship between sperm, health, and the intersecting politics of gender, race, and reproduction. Always insightful and often provocative, the essays in this unprecedented collection cover a broad range of issues related to male reproductive and sexual health—including the latest technological developments for creating sperm; the specter of eugenics in contemporary medical markets; emerging approaches to male contraceptive methods, male infertility, and trans healthcare; controversies surrounding sperm donors and sperm banking; disparities in sexual health education for teens—all the while attending to the enormous variation in how individuals and societies understand, embody, and experience sperm.

At a time when the most basic rights of reproductive autonomy are under severe threat, contributors to this volume argue this is precisely the moment to rethink and reimagine sperm from a variety of medical, political, and cultural perspectives. Ultimately, this volume aims to contribute to a more reproductively just society and broaden conversations around bodies, health and equity in the United States.

​Sperm | Health | Politics Workshop
Yale University
April 2023

In Spring 2023, ​sociologist Rene Almeling (Yale), bioethicist Lisa Campo-Engelstein (UTMB), and physician-scientist Brian T. Nguyen (USC) organized an interdisciplinary convening to bring together a range of perspectives on questions at the nexus of sperm/health/politics. Social scientists, physicians, ethicists, and advocates drafted and discussed thinkpieces on topics such as “male” infertility, “male” contraception, "paternal effects" on reproductive outcomes, and reproductive and sexual healthcare.* An edited volume titled Seminal: On Sperm, Health, and Politics will be published by New York University Press in Spring 2025. 

*We have put words like male and paternal in quotes to indicate we are not taking for granted the meaning of these terms. We recognize that language in these realms remains fraught, imprecise, and in flux, so please note our aim is to be inclusive of all gender identities.