Single gay fathers via surrogacy: the dialectics between vulnerability and resilience

ABSTRACT

The present study focuses on the experiences and constructed meanings of Israeli single gay fathers via surrogacy. Based on the analysis of 11 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with single gay fathers via surrogacy, we show that their parenting experiences are shaped in contradictory ways, allowing them to adopt a reflective position in relation to the dominant familial model. Data from in-depth interviews reveals two themes: The first: presents the influence of social viewpoints on the fathers’ accounts of their families as inherently deficient. The second: describes single gay fathers’ accounts that are dominated by empowerment, free choice and autonomy. These themes articulate the duality between vulnerability to resilience that shapes these fathers’ lived experiences. These findings highlight the complex tension between these men and their social environment concerning the concept of the contingency of couplehood and parenthood and the construction of resilience in single gay fathers’ lives.

KEYWORDS:

• Fatherhood
• surrogacy
• single father family
• same-sex family

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.