Article

Bio-genetics and gender in the construction of the paternity intentionality: DNA testing in the judicial investigations of paternity

Alternative title Biogenética e género na construção da intencionalidade da paternidade: o teste de DNA nas investigações judiciais de paternidade

Details

Citation

Machado H, Silva S, Costa S & Miranda D (2012) Bio-genetics and gender in the construction of the paternity intentionality: DNA testing in the judicial investigations of paternity [Biogenética e género na construção da intencionalidade da paternidade: o teste de DNA nas investigações judiciais de paternidade]. Estudos Feministas, 19 (3), pp. 823-848. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-026X2011000300009

Abstract
This article focuses on the modes of intentionality of paternity constructed by women and men who went through the process of DNA paternity testing by a court order, in Portugal, in the context of paternity investigations of children without an "official father". Drawing from a feminist perspective, we analyse the impact of gender ideologies on the mediation of the intention to perform the role of the father, the negotiation of kinship relations and the social and moral processes of individuals' classification and hierarchization. We conclude that the incorporation of the knowledge ensuing from the result of the DNA test in the daily practices of men and women constitutes a complex co-construction between social relations of gender, culture, technology and law.

Keywords
Paternity; Intentionality; DNA; Gender; Moralization

Journal
Estudos Feministas: Volume 19, Issue 3

StatusPublished
FundersFundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia
Publication date13/01/2012
Publication date online01/12/2011
Date accepted by journal16/12/2010
URLhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/34216
ISSN0104-026X

People (1)

Dr Diana Miranda

Dr Diana Miranda

Senior Lecturer, Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology