Paternity Secrets: Why Women Don’t Tell

Abstract

This paper reports findings from a study on paternity testing.1 Through an analysis of in-depth interviews with women from across Australia, some of whom were themselves uncertain of paternity, the study unveils their experiences of the making and keeping of a secret that became increasingly difficult to confess. In disclosing themes and commonalities in women’s accounts of their paternity secrets, it highlights the shared nature of the dilemma. At the same time, the differential and exceptional experiences of women in nonconventional and coercive relationships illustrate the precarious position of some women in relation to paternity uncertainty. Using a “moral panics” framework, the paper examines the way in which the activity of these women has been constructed as a widespread social problem encapsulated in the notions of paternity fraud and misattributed paternity. It then discusses the implications of this construction for the making of family policy based on reactivity to a moral panic.

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