Preventing Face Loss in Donor-Assisted Families

ABSTRACT

Grounded in face theory (see Brown & Levinson, 1987; Cupach & Metts, 1994; Goffman, 1967) and exploratory in nature, the present study sought to understand the face-related experiences of parents whose children were conceived with an anonymous donor. The sample included 19 parents from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, who experienced infertility, were in a lesbian relationship, or identified as solo parents. The researchers identified face-related concerns parents have for themselves and their children and preventative facework strategies they enact to avoid or minimize face loss. Findings showcase parents’ desire for social approval, autonomy, respect, and preventing rejection. Also discussed are a variety of facework strategies, namely, disclosure, avoidance, closedness, humor, deception, and strategic donor choice. The findings support and extend previous research on donor-assisted families and showcase the complexity of face for members of these families by highlighting instances where communication simultaneously preserves and threatens face.

Acknowledgments

The findings described in this manuscript come from a larger data set about the experiences of parents who used donor-assisted reproduction. An earlier version of this article was presented at the 2013 Eastern Communication Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. The authors would like to thank other members of the research team: Amy Cavanaugh, Alyssa Colosi, Sarah Foster, Maggie Gotch, Jerome Han, Sarah Kaszubski, Jamie King, Shelly Massachi, Christopher Miner, Emily O‘Neil, Christina Picciochi, Charles Schulz, Meghan Sovocool, Elizabeth Starczewski, MaryKata Vadala, Sruthi Venigalla, and Melanie Weinstein for their insight regarding the topic at hand. The authors would also like to thank the participants for their willingness to share their experiences.

Notes

¹ All names have been changed to protect participants’ privacy.

² Although we had one male participant, we chose to use female or gender neutral names and pronouns throughout the paper in order to protect the male participant’s privacy.

³ Parenthetical citations refer to the interview number and range of line numbers for each exemplar.