An extra love: motherhood, abandonment and family and social infanticide

Abstract

The paper, starting with a historical look at the topic of infanticide and abandonment, aims to offer reflections on how the social perception of infanticide has changed alongside a transformation of the concept of childhood, family and motherhood. As the father figure has been de-emphasized, infanticide has become first and foremost a female 'deviance' from the presumed naturalness and universality of maternal love, defined by Badinter as " an extra love". Finally, the essay offers a perspective on modern 'collective' infanticides that see large groups of little boys and girls deprived of protections, care and often life due to situations of political or social conflict.