Partible paternity

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Partible paternity or shared paternity is a cultural conceptualization of paternity according to which a child is understood to have more than one father; for example, because of an ideology that sees pregnancy as the cumulative result of multiple acts of sexual intercourse. [1] In societies with the concept of partible paternity this often results in the nurture of a child being shared by multiple fathers in a form of polyandric relation to the mother, although this is not always the case. [2]

All cultures recognize different types of fatherhood – for example the distinction between biological fatherhood and legal fatherhood, and the corresponding social roles of genitor and pater. [3] The concept of partible paternity differs from such a distinction because it considers all men who have had sexual intercourse with a woman immediately prior to and during her pregnancy to have contributed biological material to the child, and to have a corresponding legal or moral responsibility to care for it.

Up to 70% of Amazonian cultures may have believed in the principle of partible paternity, [4] and it has been described in at least 18 different societies including the Araweté, Mehinaku, Tapirapé, Xokleng, and Wari', [5] [6] along with the Aché and Kulina. [7]

Anthropologist Stephen Beckerman, who has studied ideologies and practices of fatherhood among the Bari people of Venezuela, argues that partible paternity is adaptive, because it gives an advantage to children who have multiple male providers. He suggests a Bari child is 16% more likely than a single-fathered child to survive to the age of 15, probably due to improved nutrition. Among the Aché people of Eastern Paraguay, having multiple fathers appears to protect children from violence, the main cause of infant and child mortality. [3] [5] [8] [9] [10] Evolutionary psychologist David Buss suggests that there must also be a downside to partible paternity, in the form of sexual jealousy. [11] It has been suggested that societies with partible paternity lack sexual jealousy, as men do not have to worry about paternal uncertainty; however, this view has also been subject to criticism and it has been argued sexual jealousy is in fact still present in partible paternity societies. [12] [13]

Partible paternity have also been suggested to be used by some males to benefit themselves by increasing their access to extramarital partners and to formalise alliances with other males by allowing sexual access to their wives, as well as sharing paternity with close kin members. [14]

In ancient Hawaii, partible paternity was called poʻolua . Hawaiian king Kamehameha I is said to have had two fathers. [15]

In The Gallic Wars , Book one, Chapter 14, Julius Caesar writes about the Celts who inhabited Kent in England: "Ten and even twelve have wives common to them, and particularly brothers among brothers, and parents among their children; but if there be any issue by these wives, they are reputed to be the children of those by whom respectively each was first espoused when a virgin."

An example of biological shared paternity is the wood turtle. Though very rare, this can also occur due to polyspermy and superfecundation for other species, including humans. The offspring will be a chimera, with a fusion of DNA from three or more biological parents. [16] [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Polyandry is a form of polygamy in which a woman takes two or more husbands at the same time. Polyandry is contrasted with polygyny, involving one male and two or more females. If a marriage involves a plural number of "husbands and wives" participants of each gender, then it can be called polygamy, group or conjoint marriage. In its broadest use, polyandry refers to sexual relations with multiple males within or without marriage.

Father Male parent

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A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child. A biological parent is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male through the sperm, and a female through the ovum. Biological parents are first-degree relatives and have 50% genetic meet. A female can also become a parent through surrogacy. Some parents may be adoptive parents, who nurture and raise an offspring, but are not biologically related to the child. Orphans without adoptive parents can be raised by their grandparents or other family members.

Infidelity Cheating, adultery, or having an affair

Infidelity is a violation of a couple's emotional and/or sexual exclusivity that commonly results in feelings of anger, sexual jealousy, and rivalry.

Paternal bond Bond with the father and his child

A paternal bond is the human bond between a father and his child.

David Buss American evolutionary psychologist

David Michael Buss is an American evolutionary psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin, researching human sex differences in mate selection. He is considered one of the founders of evolutionary psychology.

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<i>Sex at Dawn</i> 2010 book by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá

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Paper abortion, also known as a financial abortion or a statutory abort, is the proposed ability of the biological father, before the birth of the child, to opt out of any rights, privileges, and responsibilities toward the child, including financial support. By this means, before a child is born, a man would be able to absolve himself of both the privileges and demands of fatherhood.

References

  1. ↑ Bressan, P. (2002). "Why babies look like their daddies: Paternity uncertainty and the evolution of self-deception in evaluating family resemblance". Acta Ethologica. 4 (2): 113–118. doi:10.1007/s10211-001-0053-y. S2CID   40176844.
  2. ↑ Starkweather, Katie, "A Preliminary Survey of Lesser-Known Polyandrous Societies" (2009).Nebraska Anthropologist.Paper 50. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nebanthro/50
  3. 1 2 The Barí Partible Paternity Project: Preliminary Results. Stephen Beckerman, Roberto Lizarralde, Carol Ballew, Sissel Schroeder, Christina Fingelton, Angela Garrison, and Helen Smith. Current Anthropology , Vol. 39, No. 1 (February 1998), pp. 164–168
  4. ↑ Walker, R. S.; Flinn, M. V.; Hill, K. R. (2010). "Evolutionary history of partible paternity in lowland South America". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 107 (45): 19195–19200. Bibcode:2010PNAS..10719195W. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1002598107 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   2984172 . PMID   20974947.
  5. 1 2 Beckerman, S., Valentine, P., (eds) (2002) The Theory and Practice of Partible Paternity in South America, University Press of Florida
  6. ↑ Connor, Steve (January 24, 1999). "Amazon tribes believe a child can have more than one father" . The Independent . Archived from the original on 2022-05-25. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  7. ↑ Pollock D (2002) Partible paternity and multiple paternity among the Kulina. Cultures of Multiple Fathers: Theory and Practice of Partible Paternity in Lowland South America, eds Beckerman S, Valentine P (University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL), pp 42–61.
  8. ↑ Robert S. Walker, Mark V. Flinn, and Kim R. Hill. Evolutionary history of partible paternity in lowland South America .PNAS 2010 107 (45)
  9. ↑ Beckerman, Stephen and Paul Valentine 2002 Introduction. The concept of partible paternity among Native South Americans. In Cultures of Multiple Fathers: the theory and practice of partible paternity in Lowland South America. Beckerman, Stephen and Paul Valentine, eds, pp. 1–13. Gainesville, FL:. University Press of Florida
  10. ↑ . Chernela J (2002) Fathering in the Northwest Amazon of Brazil: Competition, monopoly, and partition. Cultures of Multiple Fathers: Theory and Practice of Partible Paternity in Lowland South America, eds Beckerman S, Valentine P (University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL), pp 160–176.
  11. ↑ Milius, S. 1999. Who says only one sperm gets the prize? Science News, 155(5),71.
  12. ↑ Ellsworth, Ryan. (2011). The human that never evolved: A review of Christopher Ryan and Caclida Jethá, Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships.. Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behavior. 9. 325-35.
  13. ↑ Shapiro, Warren. Partible paternity and anthropological theory: the construction of an ethnographic fantasy. University Press of America, 2009, chapters 3–8
  14. ↑ Walker, Robert S., Mark V. Flinn, and Kim R. Hill. "Evolutionary history of partible paternity in lowland South America." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, no. 45 (2010): 19195-19200.
  15. ↑ Poolua in Hawaii
  16. ↑ Worland, Justin (May 8, 2015). "The Science of How Women Can Have Twins With 2 Different Fathers". Time. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Public Education Pamphlets". sogc.org. Archived from the original on 2018-07-06. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
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