In a rather odd case, thirty-six-year-old virgin Trent Arsenault, a Silicon Valley computer-security specialist, made national headlines last month after the FDA came after him with a cease-and-desist order due to Arsenault providing his sperm free of charge to childless couples through his website, TrentDonor.org. The agency had a problem with his altruistic giveaways because Arsenault was ignoring federal regulations requiring blood tests before the donation of bodily tissue or fluids. He was threatened with a $100,000 fine or up to a year in prison.
Appearing on Anderson Cooper's new talk show, Anderson, on Tuesday, Arsenault, who's already fathered fourteen kids, provided some insight into the method of his madness, or sanity, depending on your viewpoint. He told Cooper:
"I coined this term 'donorsexual' and I'll explain it means 100 percent of my sexual energy is for producing sperm for childless couples to have babies. So I don't have other activity outside of that. I will probably be the forty-year-old virgin. Except I'll have fifteen-plus kids."
Videos of Arsenault "engaging in the sexual self-gratification that generates his sperm donations" have popped up on porn sites, which he said he hoped the media would never find. He told SF Weekly that, "Some people would call them porn videos. I call it documenting the process of being a donorsexual." Arsenault seems to be confused about his sexual orientation, saying he doesn't crave sex, only the act of donating sperm, referring to the videos to help explain what he's all about. He also said he only offers his seed to residents of the California Bay Area.
The one-man sperm bank is preparing for a legal fight with the FDA, and, until the case is settled, he's allowed to continue donating his baby batter to infertile couples. Arsenault's lawyer, Amber Taylor, thinks he has a shot at winning the case (and why wouldn't she?) because she thinks the government is misapplying rules to her client that are actually meant for sperm banks. Taylor said, "Trent is not a sperm bank, Trent is not a small medical practice. Trent is an individual."