Have a look at our DNA events and programs coming up via: www.sag.org.au/events
When we run society events, we can often predict the sort of topic that can attract a strong audience - but then sometimes we can be surprised. In 2023, the society’s special event, Let’s Talk About…Secret and Lies in Family History webinar attracted 178 attendees, and a call to participate in focus groups for the Intimate Lives: The Ethics of Uncovering Family Secrets project resulted in around 200 emails. We had obviously hit on topics of interest! At the heart of both activities are the consequences of new family members disclosed from DNA testing and results analysis. This can be the result of following specific searches for parents or family members by adoptees, or finding out that grandfathers did not match the one on paper or had strayed from the marital bed to father another child.
As much as test results can confirm a pedigree line when the paper trail can be inconclusive (too many John Smiths as potential fathers and similar), these new family members can be the result of forced adoptions and illegitimacy. Historically, illegitimacy is defined as the state of being born to parents who are not married and is a concept deeply rooted in patriarchal structures that have long perpetuated gender inequalities. From a feminist perspective, illegitimacy is not just a social stigma but a manifestation of the broader issues surrounding women's autonomy, reproductive rights, and the societal expectations placed upon them.
This ties in with the social research that we undertake for the countries of origins of our families. Opportunities for education, professional careers, contraception, abortion, and indigenous rights have varied considerably for women and in the twenty-first century are still contentious issues in places from Afghanistan to Indiana, attracting modern legislative instruments to either right historical wrongs or return us to practices of the past.
Historically, the term "illegitimate" has reinforced the societal norms that dictate that a woman's value is tied to her marital status. In traditional patriarchal societies, women who bore children outside of wedlock often faced severe social ostracisation and discrimination. This stigma served to control women's sexuality and reinforced the notion that a woman's primary role was within the confines of marriage. For example, those with Scottish heritage such as myself might have seen evidence from their own families from the kirk session records (available via the ScotlandsPeople website) that both seek to force marriages or at least mandate financial support for an unmarried mother-to-be.
