Ifrågasatta mödrar. Att vara mamma och lesbisk

Since 2005 lesbian families has been able to receive help from the Swedish healthcare system in their longing to become parents. As the waiting time is long and the regulation of the fertility treatment is not adapted for lesbian families, they sometimes turn abroad for fertility treatment or get help from a private donor. These families have to undergo an investigation conducted by social workers in order to become a family. My purpose in this essay was to show how lesbian mothers are constructing their families and how the society surrounding them supports or obstructs their efforts. By using qualitative methods, I conducted seven interviews with lesbian mothers who had gone through investigation, first in the search for finding a father and then later another before being able to adopt their babies. I then applied the theories of Cheshire Calhoun from 2000 on the data I collected from my interviews. The main focus in this essay is to investigate what experiences lesbian mothers have of the Swedish regulation of lesbian motherhood. What experiences do they have of governmental authorities and what norms are in motion in the society when it comes to lesbian motherhood? By using Cheshire Calhoun’s theories (2000) I saw that by placing lesbian mothers as Outlaws Of Family they are being constructed as unfit mothers and their families were forced to adapt to the heterosexual norms in family making. I also found that these mothers where being distrusted and controlled in a way that is being sanctioned by Swedish law