Has being a single mother been always stigmatized?
Upvote:4
Nazi Germany had a program called Lebensborn that encouraged unwed (German) mothers to produce "Aryan" children. These would be from "begetters" who were high-ranking members of the Nazi party, or members of the SS.
Because of the war, there was a shortage of "family" (read military) aged men at home, and a surplus of women of that age.
The times when "unwed motherhood" was not stigmatized were usually when it was "state-sanctioned," as above. Another example put forth by another poster was with "sacred prostitutes."
Upvote:9
The example that comes to mind is the class of sacred prostitutes of classical antiquity.
References of these temple prostitutes abound in ancient writings, but not much is said about their presumable consequential children. However, in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi legal protections were extended to the sacred prostitutes and their children which put them on a social par with married women: inheriting patriarchal property, handling money earned by their brothers, selling property, etc. (Read reference here.) This seems an uncharacteristically progressive stance given the time period.
Conversely, "common" prostitutes were usually associated with the lower classes, and did not enjoy the same status and protections. Any risk of pregnancy was met with primitive contraception, abortion, or infanticide. Whether this was solely due to social stigma or complicated by professional/ecomonic need is debatable.
(I know it's not Europe, but it's a salient example.)
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