Alternative forms of parenthood: Introduction to the monothematic symposium

The beginning of the third millennium has seen nano-bio-info-cogno technologies emerge with accelerating rapidity, the loosening of traditional value constellations and an accompanying normative transformation in various spheres of life. These dynamic changes affect, among other things, partner relationships and living arrangements, with marriage on the decline, and alternative living arrangements and the number of children born within them on the increase. Although these changes have been occurring since the second half of the last century, when the second demographic transition began (Sobotka, Toulemon, 2008; Lesthaeghe, 2010), many of them would not have been possible without the advances in biomedical technologies. While some of the changes in forms of family life (e.g. cohabitation, living apart together, single parenthood) take place without the need for sophisticated technological interventions, others are unimaginable without them. This is particularly true of the continual developments in assisted reproduction, which are not just limited to solving infertility in heterosexual couples, but can be used to help single parents or LGBT individuals who wish to start a family.

These changes in parenthood challenge the normative framing of our lives, be it legislative, moral or social. In some cases, the changes are not particularly dramatic. For instance, cohabitation is gradually becoming an established form of both partnership and family life, and is increasingly being accepted as a fully fledged alternative to formal marriage. Cohabitation is no longer seen as breaking social norms, and is morally accepted by a large section of society. Nonetheless, in many countries, cohabitation is not specifically anchored in the legislation. The negative consequence of this is that cohabiting families are at far greater risk of being left with insufficient financial or material resources following the death of one of the parents, than is the case with married families, and that is because they lack inheritance and distribution of property rights (Gassen, Perelli-Harris, 2015).

Surrogacy presents far greater challenges than cohabitation for the setting and negotiation of social and moral norms. A whole range of questions comes into play, such as who is the mother of the child, to what extent can the surrogate mother be trusted to surrender the new-born child to the parent/s (intended parent/s) on the basis of prior agreement and whether surrogacy should be commercial or “altruistic”. Another issue is whether a single parent can acquire a child in this way. The controversial nature of surrogacy is evident in the different legislations, with some countries forbidding it outright and others accepting different forms (FIGO, 2012).

For LGBT couples, the situation is even more complicated as in many countries those wishing to marry are unable to do so, and are forced into cohabitation. Furthermore, they face greater problems when attempting to have a child through surrogacy as the heteronormativity that basically prevails in all societies fundamentally questions the whole concept of gay and lesbian parenthood. The number of countries in which same-sex couples can legally adopt a child is extremely small, and these families are more frequently stigmatised.

All three types of parenthood—cohabitation, surrogacy and LGBT—unavoidably take place within a particular normative space that differs from country to country. With the growth in alternative living arrangements, social norms are gradually changing in favour of greater acceptance of unmarried parents, but moral norms are more resistant among the less liberal section of society. In both cases the transformation is primarily taking place at the informal level. For legislative changes to occur in relation to parenthood, however, requires special new laws to be adopted. But so long as MPs continue to ignore these new challenges, we end up in a situation where the legislation no longer reflects the current situation, and ordinary people and institutions dealing with parenthood issues have to resort to the general legislation in their attempts to resolve problems of parenthood.

This symposium contains four articles. One looks at the issue of cohabitation, two are concerned with surrogacy, and the fourth deals with LGBT parenthood.

In the first article “Quality of life in children brought up by married and cohabiting couples”, Miroslav Popper, Ivan Lukšík and Martin Kanovský compare quality of life in married and cohabiting couples. They analyse the main arguments of those defending the idea that quality of life is better among children brought up by married couples than among those brought up by cohabiting couples. They then examine the counterargument that quality of life among children brought up by cohabiting couples has gradually caught up with quality of life among children raised by married parents. The authors use empirical data obtained in Slovakia from a representative sample of the population to show that there is no fundamental difference in quality of life among children brought up by married parents and those brought up by cohabiting parents.

The second article, “Any surrogate mothers?” A debate on surrogacy in the Internet discussion forums” by Ondřej Doskočil looks at online internet forums, where potential surrogate mothers and applicants obtain information about surrogacy and make contacts. The author surveys the surrogacy topics most frequently searched for and debated on Czech online discussion forums and examines the types of interaction relating to supply and demand, in other words between potential surrogate mothers and applicants/potential parents, regarding the legislation, ethics and practical issues. That these topics dominate comes as no surprise since surrogacy is not legally regulated in Czechia.

The third article, “Legal aspects of surrogacy” by Ivana Honzová, Anna Zemandlová, Leona Prudilová and Lukáš Prudil analyses the legal situation regarding surrogacy in the Czech Republic and highlights the fact that surrogacy takes place in a kind of legal vacuum as there is no specific legislation on surrogacy. This article complements the previous one and shows how the various issues and problems associated with surrogacy can be resolved from within the framework of general law, despite it being far from ideal. The authors explain the difficult process of adoption and provide three model cases showing how adoption is handled in three different circumstances. They also demonstrate the way in which the lack of specific legislation causes many problems.

The fourth and last article in the symposium “Queering kinship, overcoming heteronorms” by Diego Lasio, João Manuel de Oliveira and Francesco Serri considers gay and lesbian parenthood in Italy. Above all it highlights the way in which the prevailing heteronormativity affects the lives of LGBT individuals in the realm of parenthood. Authors consider the dominant heteronormativity to have led to a situation where, when the law recognising same-sex civil unions was adopted in 2016, the section of the law on adopting stepchildren had to be omitted before it could be passed. The article also examines the type of discourse used by the Catholic Church to defend the “natural family”. For changes to be made that would enable more flexible forms of intimate relationship and parenthood, the authors argue that it is essential to think simultaneously about how the heteronormative and gendered social order impacts on society.