how many would admit your an illegitamate child? (search, skin, database)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't consider myself either illegitimate or a bastard, but my birth parents weren't married to each other. Should I be ashamed of that? Why? The shame would be on those who would consider it shameful. I doubt most people use those terms anymore anyway. What difference does it make if a child's parents are married or not? If a couple gets divorced, does that make their children illegitimate? Labels...
The rate of illegitimate births in the United States has risen sharply since the early 1970s. In the 1940s fewer than five percent of the total births were out of wedlock. By the early 2000s, according to statistics compiled by the Center for Health Statistics at the U.S. Health and Human Services Department , births to unmarried mothers accounted for nearly one-third of all U.S. births.
I don't think there's any shame in being born to a single mother, but I have to ask in what situation does one imagine this coming up in casual conversation?
I don't think there's any shame in being born to a single mother, but I have to ask in what situation does one imagine this coming up in casual conversation?
I smiled when I read that. You're asking the question in a genealogy forum. When trying to trace ancestors it is absolutely relevant whether a person's surname came from their mother or their father.
Right here! My parents weren't married when I was born!
Seriously, who cares?
The point is that whether or not they were married is no reflection on me. All it reflects is that they decided not to take part in a ritual and/or register their union with a state government.
Maybe the suggestion (in my case, a fact) that I wasn't planned is supposed to be a stigma? Not to me, it's not. Besides, lots of children born to married parents weren't exactly planned - even when the parents were married at the time of conception (I speak from experience here!). Big deal.
On a related side note, I used to work at the legal publishing company now known as West, proof-checking edited legal decisions for publication. West uses a system called KeyCite for categorizing decisions by topic (while still useful, this was critical before database searching via computer was possible). Anyway, one of the KeyCite categories was Children, Born Out of Wedlock - it was always followed in parentheses by the note 'before 1973, see Bastards'. As one, I always found that amusing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by randomparent
I don't think there's any shame in being born to a single mother, but I have to ask in what situation does one imagine this coming up in casual conversation?
Yeah. There's that. Is there some place where this is a regular line of inquiry?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.