Images of Children in Views on Same-Sex Adoption Rights

Abstract

Child images are negotiated in and through ongoing societal and cultural processes. In this project, the Norwegian same-sex adoption rights debate was chosen as a case in which to study prevalent images of children. The empirical data comprised 437 responses to an open-ended question in a national survey. Four concurrent discourses were identified: (1) children need to grow up in ordinary families; (2) children need dedicated parenting; (3) children are subjects of own individual rights, and (4) the best interest of the child is paramount. Discourse 4 seemingly has a superior standing, both in regard to being widely used and the magnitude of moral strength. This discourse, tentatively, positions children with a privileged moral status. However, such positioning may recycle images of a vulnerable, sentimentalized, and abstract child. Children's agency, as well as wider aspects of children's daily lives, may become less visible or be made less relevant. Consequently, various issues of importance for children's lives and possibilities may remain unrecognized and unaddressed.