Motherhood and the contradictions of feminism: Appraising claims towards emancipation in the perspective of surrogacy

Abstract

This article aims to explore some of the fundamental notions that connect the narrative of feminist emancipation to the experience of motherhood. It elucidates any inherent contradictions, appraises their implications for motherhood and assesses their respective salience today for feminist thought. It does so, in particular, by setting motherhood in a wider context where contradictions to feminist theory surface clearly: namely, through dialogues from empirical findings in contemporary motherhood studies and in the context of surrogacy and artificial reproductive technologies (ARTs). Ostensibly, one of the prominent tenets of classic feminism has been its disparaging view of motherhood as being the bastion of women’s subordination in a patriarchal society – the corollary being that the emancipation of women could happen only through opposition to or, at best, despite motherhood. The first two sections of the article present classic concepts related to domestic life and motherhood that lambast institutions of male domination, still highly influential in shaping discussions of women’s movements around the world. The third section focuses on feminism’s controversy over the practice of surrogacy and contends that the epistemological distinction between giving birth and mothering posited by feminism actually legitimizes ARTs’ continuing transformation of women’s bodies into ‘open access flesh’. This is the terrain on which today technology, not patriarchy, is erected. The fourth section surveys a range of vibrant, recent motherhood studies and reclaims the empowering capacity of motherhood at grassroots level, with wider implications. The conclusion raises the issue of ‘mothering as empowerment’ as a missing piece in the broader landscape of feminist theory, particularly in light of findings that there is a significant concurrence of values and practices characterizing how women with children self-define themselves, as both moral and social agents.

Sociological Perspectives Across Individual Experiences, Social Structures, and Representations

“…Equally in lesbian motherhood obtained through the pregnancy of an embryo formed with the partner's egg, the role of the latter is compared to that of man in heterosexual procreation (Thompson, 2005). These elaborations of meaning on the maternal figure in relation to being either male or female are part of the feminist reflections begun half a century ago on the emancipation of women from the patriarchal belief that nature assigns innate characteristics to the two sexes: in this constructivist conception, biomedical technology is hailed, both by some feminists (followers of Firestone, supporters of the artificial uterus) and transhumanists, as a tool to free women from the burden of motherhood and to concretize genderless mothering (Corradi, 2021).…”

“…From this discussion, it is evident that when motherhood is separated from pregnancy and childbirth, as well as from the woman, to be instead associated to intention, the semantic claims on it can be the most varied, just as the number of perceptions, the constructions of meaning and the interpretations of the personal experiences of the subjects who take part in the procreative process can be. Corradi (2021) warns of the confusion that can be generated when pretending to separate two dimensions of motherhood, childbearing and childrearing, without distinguishing the social level from the epistemological one: making this separation on the first level means admitting that the woman who gives birth wants to give away the child or sharing the caring role with a partner or another person; supporting a separation on an epistemological level, on the other hand, questions the identity of the human person with mind and body, not the roles we have as "social agents".…”

Mères porteuses

“…Du côté des études féministes, il y a divergence Corradi 2020). Certaines auteures présentent cette pratique comme une manifestation d'autonomie, les femmes pouvant décider que faire avec leur corps, considérant qu'il s'agit d'une façon de s'émanciper et d'une reconnaissance du travail reproductif dans le cas de celles qui sont rémunérées (Iacub 2004 ;Noel 2015).…”

The Study’s Origins and Methodology

“…Since the 1970s, feminism has been one of the most visible agents of cultural change and social policy in terms of procreation and the family (Mazur et al, 2016;Willson, 2010): in Italy, the law on abortion, the result of a crucial battle of feminism, has helped to legitimize a concept of family that developed from individualism and the fragmentation of contemporary society, as a "residue of individual decisions that have their fulcrum in the mother-child dyad" (Donati, 1994, p. 340). Regarding the role of technology in reproduction, women activists as well as feminist thinkers have elaborated some original perspectives (Corradi, 2021;Farquhar, 1996): some posit technology advancements (birth control, fertilization techniques) as an ally in women's emancipation that could relieve women of the burden of childbearing (Firestone, 1970); others look at assisted reproduction with the fear that women will be expropriated of the uniqueness of their female identity, which is given by the potentiality of giving birth (Corea, 1985); technology is seen as emanation of maledominated science and thus as a tool of patriarchy to take control of the procreative resources of women (Klein, 2018); some express concerns about the loss and devaluation of traditional knowledge of women in pregnancy and birth (Di Pietro & Tavella, 2006;Katz Rothman, 1982).…”