Naming Strategies in Lesbian Headed Families
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2007 |
| Type | R&D Presentation |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Aims: The aim of the presentation is to introduce the decision-making process of two specific family practices in families headed by a lesbian couple: the parents choice of their childrens last names and childrens ways of addressing the parents. These are partial findings of the very first study on lesbian parenting conducted in the Czech Republic. The overall objective of this qualitative research was to explore the parenting couples experience in lesbian led families (e.g., methods of family formation, family arrangements, biological and non-biological parents experience of transition to parenthood, division of labor, reproduction of gender roles in the family) and provide a deeper insight into the topic in the national context. Methods: The data were collected from 30 lesbian mothers (15 family units including both planned donor insemination and blended type families). The research design was based on in-depth joint and individual semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The data were qualitatively analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results: We identified four different naming patterns for choosing the childrens last names and three different approaches in the way both parents were being addressed by their child/children. Each of the modalities is a result of a specific decision-making process and will be discussed in detail. The absence of readily available social guidelines placed the lesbian parents in the situation in which they had to actually create these rules themselves. Majority of the couples lacked previous experience and information about how to do a lesbian family. Conclusions: Some of the matters that are self-evident in heterosexual families become the matter of further reflection and negotiation in families led by two people of the same gender. These family practices are an illustrative example of what some authors refer to as everyday life experiments. |
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