No love, no marriage, just the baby carriage

Michael Cook
14 Dec 2014
Reproduced with Permission
BioEdge

You've heard of hook-up sites like match.com for people who just want sex, but not marriage and kids. But you may not have heard of sites like Modamily.com, PollenTree.com and Familybydesign.com for people who just want kids, but not marriage and sex.

According to The Atlantic , co-parenting is a new trend in the evolution of the family. Women who have given up on romance and the ideal guy but still want a child search for sperm donors who are willing to be involved in the child's upbringing.

"We are seeing a growing trend of a female, same-sex-couple parenting with the man who provides the genetic material but does not relinquish his rights as a sperm donor," Diana Adams , a New York lawyer told The Atlantic. A number of cases of sperm donors who have forced their way acrimoniously into a relationship have made headlines. But apparently there is an increasing number of platonic and peaceful relationships. Some women see it as far superior to single motherhood.

"Throughout history, the model that has worked for humankind was extended family - a village, a tribe," Rachel Hope, author of Family By Choice: Platonic Partnered Parenting , told The Atlantic. "It's only recently that we've started doing the nuclear family, with one mom and one dad, and it's really a failed experiment."

Other marriage experts warn that this experiment is inherently unstable and therefore bad for children. "My concern about platonic parenting is that such an arrangement will not last," said W. Bradford Wilcox, the director of the National Marriage Project. "In most cases, one or both of the parties will develop a non-platonic attraction to someone else and move on."

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