The three-mother problem

Abstract

‘Motherhood’, as opposed to ‘fatherhood’, has always been deemed to be something undisputable and certain, and as such, it is considered the main pillar of the institution of the family. There are texts throughout history, however, from the most ‘sacred’ (The Old Testament) to the most profane (contemporary television dramas), that dispute this certainty, thereby opening up the ‘self-evidentary’ nature of the family to critical scrutiny. ‘Motherhood’ is three different things at the same time (genetic, birth and nurturing), and as social and cultural structures get more and more complex, and new biotechnologies develop, these three will grow apart from each other. As things stand, the biological/genetic roots of motherhood (and hence the family) are becoming more and more questionable and insignificant. Furthermore, the cultural/nurturing function of the family is almost ripe to be assumed by networks of chosen human relationships in the near future, in which motherhood becomes a function to be fulfilled by any human being willing to do it, regardless of genetics and gender.