Over the last decades research on homosexual parenting has shown that children raised by lesbian and gay parents are not more likely to experiment problems in comparison with children raised by heterosexual parents. However, homosexual parents and their children are still subject to stigmatization and to institutionalized forms of discrimination, as in the case of Italy where no recognition or protection are settled for children of same-sex parents. Heteronormativity constructs heterosexuality as the normal, natural, taken-for-granted sexuality and the heterosexual married couple is considered the only appropriate context for parenting, thus marginalizing those parents who do not conform to the hegemonic view of sexuality and parenting (Kitzinger, 2005). General politics and “regimes of truth”, established by scientific discourses and institutions, are at the origins of the dynamics of power between the heterosexual majority and sexual minority groups (Foucault, 1978). The relations of dominance are often consensual because they are continuously reproduced as natural (Gramsci, 1975a). As Gramsci (1975a; 1975b) highlighted, cultural hegemony is a process of moral and intellectual leadership through which subordinated classes give their “spontaneous” consent to the worldview of the ruling classes, thus agreeing to their domination, with no need of forcing or coercion for accepting their inferior positions. This paper firstly analyses the historical conditions that led the heteronormative view of parenting to become hegemonic in Italy. The empirical section of the paper presents the analysis of the discourses of three groups of LGBTIQ Italian activists about parenting. We feel that the contribution of this study consists on showing how hegemonic ideologies on sexualities and parenting can permeate in the discourses of subaltern groups, even in the case of groups that have committed themselves politically to defending the rights of LGBTIQ persons.
The ideology of mothering in the discourses of LGBTIQ activists about parenting
Diego Lasio;Francesco Serri;
2015-01-01
Abstract
Over the last decades research on homosexual parenting has shown that children raised by lesbian and gay parents are not more likely to experiment problems in comparison with children raised by heterosexual parents. However, homosexual parents and their children are still subject to stigmatization and to institutionalized forms of discrimination, as in the case of Italy where no recognition or protection are settled for children of same-sex parents. Heteronormativity constructs heterosexuality as the normal, natural, taken-for-granted sexuality and the heterosexual married couple is considered the only appropriate context for parenting, thus marginalizing those parents who do not conform to the hegemonic view of sexuality and parenting (Kitzinger, 2005). General politics and “regimes of truth”, established by scientific discourses and institutions, are at the origins of the dynamics of power between the heterosexual majority and sexual minority groups (Foucault, 1978). The relations of dominance are often consensual because they are continuously reproduced as natural (Gramsci, 1975a). As Gramsci (1975a; 1975b) highlighted, cultural hegemony is a process of moral and intellectual leadership through which subordinated classes give their “spontaneous” consent to the worldview of the ruling classes, thus agreeing to their domination, with no need of forcing or coercion for accepting their inferior positions. This paper firstly analyses the historical conditions that led the heteronormative view of parenting to become hegemonic in Italy. The empirical section of the paper presents the analysis of the discourses of three groups of LGBTIQ Italian activists about parenting. We feel that the contribution of this study consists on showing how hegemonic ideologies on sexualities and parenting can permeate in the discourses of subaltern groups, even in the case of groups that have committed themselves politically to defending the rights of LGBTIQ persons.
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