Motherhood represents a social construct that is given meaning within patriarchal systems of law and custom. The present study analyzes the Israeli legal discourse surrounding motherhood, parenting capacity, and sexual conduct of marginalized women whose parental rights were terminated. It examines how information about a mother’s sexual heteronormal life style played a role in the construction of her motherhood as maternal unfitness. Drawing from 80 court decisions terminating parental rights, three themes emerged: the bad wife as a marker of the bad mother, “legitimate” sexual life as a pre-condition to desirable parenting, and negative views of women who give birth out of marriage. Maternal unfitness was associated with sexual immorality, illegitimacy, and “inappropriate” sexual choices. Alternative explanations of the findings are discussed from a critical feminist and legal perspective. Implications of the findings are outlined, particularly the need for women’s voices to be heard in every decision-making process regarding state control of their parenting, and the need for professionals to avoid bias against socially marginalized women and engage in critical reflective thinking regarding why information about a mother’s sexual conduct and life style is considered relevant to any assessment of her parental fitness and the child’s best interest.

中文翻译：

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以色列父母权利被终止的母亲的母性和母性健康：性异常性和合法性的重要性

母性代表了一种社会建构，在法律和习俗的父权制系统中被赋予了意义。本研究分析了以色列关于其父母权利被终止的边缘化妇女的母性、养育能力和性行为的法律论述。它研究了有关母亲性异常生活方式的信息如何在她作为母亲不健康的母亲身份的建构中发挥作用。从 80 项终止父母权利的法院判决中，出现了三个主题：坏妻子是坏母亲的标志，“合法”性生活是理想养育方式的先决条件，以及对非婚生妇女的负面看法。产妇不健康与性不道德、私生子和“不适当”的性选择有关。从批判女权主义和法律的角度讨论了对调查结果的其他解释。概述了调查结果的含义，特别是在关于国家控制其养育方式的每个决策过程中都需要听取女性的声音，以及专业人士需要避免对社会边缘化女性的偏见，并就为什么信息进行批判性反思有关母亲的性行为和生活方式的信息被认为与对她父母的健康状况和孩子的最大利益的任何评估有关。