Having been born in the 70’s, outside of wedlock to a Catholic Father and a Presbyterian Mother,  the rather tender subject of being a “bastard” comes up. Back in the day, most people still attended churches and being part of the community and the social fabric was very important to most people.

“Bastard” is a word that still is an insult, but does not carry its former sting in this modern age, but why?

It is a legal term to denote a child born out of legal wedlock and thus outside the path of inheritance from the Father.  But it was also used a lot in Christian circles too, particularly within the Catholic Church.   If my mother is to be believed,  my father had me and my twin brother declared as “bastards” in the eyes of the Catholic Church.  But my mother said many other disparaging things about my father too, so I am inclined to take that with a grain of salt.

In the 70’s it was still a social Taboo for a woman to have children out of wedlock.  It has only been in the intervening years that it has become socially acceptable for women to take this course of action.  Branding a child as being illegitimate has lost its deadly intent.  If 30 – 40% of all boys are not in line for any inheritance, it fails to become an insult to be used to socially injure and exclude, especially when they become a social demographic.

In past days it was a real social slur to call someone “illegitimate”.  Take a listen to this song from the 60’s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li5SeswcCp4

There were serious consequences for people bringing children into this world outside of the protection of marriage before the 70’s.  And it is only now in this modern age that we see how bad the outcomes for boys from single mother homes actually are.  There are real, quantifiable implications for boys raised in an environment without a supporting father in the picture.

Something more sinister is actually happening, though.  We are de-emphasizing the importance of male lineage, male inheritance and male continuance.

Should these things be unimportant? I say they are vitally important! Our fathers and our forefathers are the chains on which males can hold fast to the anchoring identity of being “men”.  Women have deliberately cut the chains to the very anchors that boys need to secure their identity as men.

No wonder why boys from single mother homes feel so adrift!  Why boys are so eager to do everything that “Mummy” says, and believe everything that “Mummy” states.

They don’t know where they came from, ergo, they don’t know who they are!