Who Needs a Father? Negotiating Biological Fatherhood in British Lesbian Families Using Self-Insemination

Abstract

In the last decades of the twentieth century in Britain there has emerged a public understanding that traditional fatherhood is in crisis. Against this backdrop, many British lesbian parents perceive the role of the father as important in the construction of their family lives. This article discusses these issues in relation to lesbian self-insemination families. In such families children can be parented by any permutation of adults who have either biological or social links with their children. Such flexibility has meant that men are often included in the lives of their children. I argue that in constructing their SI families many lesbians challenge three of the assumptions associated with traditional fatherhood and family life: that biological fathers should be involved as parents in their children's lives; that parenting is not separate from gendered assumptions about mothering and fathering; and that mothers and fathers should share a household with their children. In conclusion I discuss some of the implications for biological fathers of these emerging families.