We’ve all heard jokes where the punch-line informs us that the mailman, and not the husband of the mother, is the biological father. “Mailman jokes†are harmless for the most part, and often give us a good laugh. However, it is no coincidence that these jokes exist to the extent that they do.
Women have always known for sure that the children they raise are their own; maternity never needs to be doubted, even in the most primitive of societies. Paternity, on the other hand, has always been something that men have doubted, consciously or unconsciously. In the absence of reliable scientific testing, how is a man to know for sure whether he is really the father of a certain child?
How Legal Paternity Arose
When human beings started to become more civilized, and traditional societies replaced the chaos of warring tribes, marriage became a cornerstone of society. A key reason for promoting marriage and monogamy was to ensure that each child had a father who would be legally bound to support that child no matter what the circumstances.
In most Western countries, legislators went as far as proclaiming that the father of the child was the husband of the mother, regardless of whether the husband was actually the biological father. These laws stay with us until the present day, meaning that it can be very difficult for a married man to challenge paternity, even when you have a DNA test that proves you cannot possibly be the father!
In my opinion these paternity laws, though valid and needed at one point in time, are quickly becoming outdated in modern and postmodern societies. Far from all couples get married these days, and both sexes pursue the kind of sexual freedom that easily leads to “the wrong man†becoming the father of a child. Being married is no longer a sufficient criterion to determine who the father is, or who should be assigned the rights and responsibilities of fatherhood.
An Active Father Is a Good Thing
We have always known who the mother of a child is, this is considered normal and natural for obvious biological reasons. Throughout history however, it has been impossible for men to have the same kind of certainty around paternity, for purely biological reasons. However, the seeming destiny of men to always be uncertain about whether they are really the father changed more than a decade ago, with the advent of DNA testing.
DNA testing is a cheap and readily available tool that can be used to quickly, and with pretty much complete certainty, establish who the father of a child is. Now that such a method exists, wouldn’t it be great to have all uncertainty around paternity be removed?
If we want men to be good fathers, do not men deserve to be 100 percent sure that they are pouring out their hearts and souls to raise their own child, and not another man’s child? I’m not saying that you cannot love a non-biological child just as much (eg an adopted child), but I do think that every individual deserves to know the truth, before deciding whether to help raise a child or not.
Children would benefit substantially from having maternity and paternity be established from the start, since there would be no doubt who the two adults responsible for the child’s welfare were. DNA testing would also increase the likelihood of the man stepping into the role of father, and should he choose to avoid this, it would be easier to enforce child support.
Caring About Men’s Rights
DNA testing all children would also do away with a system where many men unknowingly raise children that aren’t their own, and where men are forced to pay child support for children that other men have fathered.
1.9 to 3.3 percent of men with high paternity confidence aren’t really the father of their child, and the figure for men with low paternity confidence is a whopping 29.8 percent (source).
Sexual Accountability
Knowing that all newborns undergo DNA testing would force men and women alike to act more responsibly when having a sexual relationship. A man having an affair would have to consider whether he wants to risk being named as the father of a child outside of his family. A woman having an affair would risk becoming pregnant with another man’s child, and having her husband find out about this once the DNA testing is done.
I have no desire to limit each individual’s right to his or her own sexuality. But every right and every freedom comes with a responsibility too, and DNA testing all children would indirectly force every adult to be accountable and accept the consequences of his or her actions.
However, the primary reason I advocate DNA testing is not to enforce sexual accountability. The reasons I want to see this happen are two-fold:
- Children are much better off knowing who their parents are. If a false paternity is uncovered at some point in a child’s life, then the stability of that child’s life will be uprooted.
- DNA testing would give men the peace of mind that women have always had. If we want men to have certain responsibilitites, then we have to match those responsibilities with rights; in this case the right to know for certain that the child you are investing in emotionally and financially is yours.
Pelle Billing is an M.D. who writes and lectures about gender liberation beyond feminism.
