Open Access„DET KRÆVER NU ENGANG EN MAND OG EN KVINDE“: Køn, seksualitet og slægtskab i den politiske debat om homoseksuelles forældreegnethed
Author(s) -
Maruska la Cour Mosegaard
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
antropologi
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2596-5425
pISSN - 0906-3021
DOI - 10.7146/ta.v0i50.106934
Subject(s) - kinship , silence , gender studies , lesbian , politics , human sexuality , sociology , context (archaeology) , danish , political science , law , anthropology , philosophy , history , linguistics , archaeology , aesthetics
In Denmark same sex parenthood is a highly controversial topic. Taking this controversy
as a point of departure the article discusses kinship as a negotiated and politicised
field. While homosexual men are increasingly becoming fathers and parents, their
fatherhood is still surrounded with silence in political debates, which focus mainly on
lesbian motherhood. By exploring how notions of kinship, gender and sexuality are
intersected in the political debates regarding homosexuals’ access to parenthood, the
article explores this apparent invisibility of homosexual fathers. The political debates
provide a window on the contemporary negotiation of kinship ties and obligations, and
touch upon the boundaries of “the family”. The article concludes that the silence
surrounding homosexual fathers is a question of both their (homo)sexuality and their
gender. Both homosexual men and women have difficulties in access to parenthood
and are excluded from the definition of family contained in Danish law, because they
cannot uphold the notion of kinship as symbolized by heterosexual intercourse. In
addition the wishes of fatherhood held by gay men are – because of their being men –
ignored since parenthood in a Danish context still is synonymous with motherhood.