Joe said life as a sperm donor can be lonely and there’s no time for romance (Picture: Jam Press/Joe Donor)
A prolific and ‘lonely’ sperm donor says he has had to sacrifice his love life to father 180 children.
Joe Donor – who doesn’t want to reveal his surname – has been donating ‘baby batter’ for 13 years.
The 52-year-old does this using several methods, which include natural insemination (sex), partial insemination (getting himself close to ejaculation via masturbation, before ejaculating in the recipient) and artificial insemination.
As a result, he says, he can’t have a full-time job or maintain a love life.
‘You always have to be ready should a lady suddenly ovulate – [there’s] no time for romance,’ he explained.
Joe – who has been dubbed ‘Britain’s most prolific dad’ – said people have made cruel comments over the years, suggesting he’s only in it for the sex.
But he claims this isn’t the case at all.
Joe has been donating sperm for 13 years (Picture: Jam Press/Joe Donor)
‘I’m sure many who read about me will think my life is a big self-licking ice cream,” Joe told What’s The Jam.
‘I especially feel hurt when my critics say I only donate as a way to have sex. You would think that, as a natural donor, I would be in the saddle a lot.
‘But I have always said if you want a lot of sexy time, you should get a girlfriend or get married, because I only meet women once or twice a month typically.
‘Because my baby batter is extremely effective, if I am lucky, I will only meet the lovely lady once or twice and then she falls pregnant and I may not see her again for a year or two, when she wants a second child.
‘However, because I spend a lot of time helping women to calculate the best time to meet, and sometimes ovulation times can change, I have to always be ready to help, and this puts a crimp on my availability for romance with women outside of sperm donations.’
He continued: ‘It can be quite lonely. I have given up my own love life to help others in this selfless way, and even on those rare occasions where there is brief intercourse, I don’t even get a kiss or a cuddle!’
Joe with one of the babies he’s ‘fathered’ (Picture: Jam Press/Joe Donor)
Joe, who lives in Newcastle, described his critics as ‘keyboard warriors’ and added: ‘The internet has a way of dehumanising people.
‘It’s very easy for people to make hurtful comments online, because I don’t seem like a real person to them, which they would not say if they met me face to face.
‘When someone sits behind a computer screen and reads about someone else who appears to be getting ahead, it’s completely normal to want to punish them, and to fire off a salvo against them.
‘When someone donates blood, they might get a glass of orange juice or a T-shirt, and they might feel some pride when they tell their friends about their volunteer activity.
‘No one ever accuses them of donating blood for orange juice, T-shirts and public adulation.
‘Why do they pick on me, then? I guess whilst no one wants [to] fight a blood donor for his spot to bleed into a bag, I suspect that those readers who are most critical of me are the ones who secretly most want to swap places with me!’
The donor explained that another common misconception is that his efforts bring in lots of cash.
The 52-year-old says he gets cruel comments but loves what he does (Picture: Jam Press/Joe Donor)
‘Since I have devoted my life to my peculiar form of charity, to get by, I have to live off yellow sticker sales,’ he said.
‘The amount of time involved in sperm donation makes it impossible to work a 9-5 job.
‘My travel costs are sometimes reimbursed, sometimes not.’
However, he said despite ‘just squeaking by financially’ he feels like the ‘Admiral of Humber’ because he is living a life he loves.
‘There are many ways to be rich without money – I am much richer in experiences, travelling all over the world.
‘And I feel richer by playing an important role in the lives of women who I get pregnant and their families, than I would feel working 9 to 5 in an office.’
Joe said he hopes his critics will now accept he is ‘just a salt of the earth’.
In December, a sperm donor who has technically fathered 71 children around the world, spoke of his own loneliness.
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