“Quem nuptiae demonstrant…” Some thoughts on filiation and lesbian motherhoods from an anthropological perspective

Abstract

Considering the evolution of the treatment of filiation in cases of women in same-sex marriages, this article relativizes the idea of the increasing weight of biological arguments. While in the determination of the filiation there is a persisting focus on giving birth as evidence of the mother-child relationship, we can also observe how different interpretations and decisions regarding the spouse’s maternity status are leaning toward giving greater relevance to factors such as the spouse’s will to be a mother, the couple’s parenthood project, and by extension marriage as an institution into which that project is subsumed. The article shows the emergence of matrimonial filiation as a third type of filiation that is based neither on biology nor on adoption. Although it is not expressly regulated by law, this different type of filiation is being effectively applied to establish filiation in cases of donor-conceived children born in lesbian sex-same marriages.