The Shame of Giving Birth

Giving birth has been considered noble in patriarchy for ages. However, unfortunately, this notion, being part of a wide-spread ideology, has played its part in subduing women in all kinds of societies. "Have many children, preferably blonde and blue-eyed" was the message to German women in the 1930-1940s as it had been before in former historical settings. No matter where or when, some babies were not seen as the "bonus" of having sex because they were born without the consent of the patriarchal society: Women had to get married to have sex, and children born out of wedlock were considered illegitimate which would reduce their - as well as their mother's - status in these patriarchal societies. Strange to think of some famous and wealthy women who were children of unwed mothers. That goes e.g. for the singer and actress Eartha Kitt who in her heydays was considered one of the sexiest women on this planet.

When Eartha was born in 1927 her Mom was 16 years old, and, presumably, she didn't know who the father of her daughter was. The child grew up with her aunt and didn't even know that she wasn't her birth mother. This seems to have been the most common way of deluding the world when it came to illegitimacy, but the children still had to bear the sting of "not having a father". That's ridiculous as nobody is without a father, even though they may not know his name. In Eartha's case there were rumours that this elusive - and spoilt! - male was either a Chinese or a white man who may have raped her mother.  

When it comes to Loretta Young she had a daughter, Judy Lewis, after a date rape by the "King of Hollywood", Mr. Clark Gable. He never acknowledged her allegations of either rape or fatherhood, and I've even seen some denials by his great-grandson that seems ridiculous to me as the girl was his spitting image.

The "shame" of giving birth to this out-of-wedlock-daughter forced Loretta to deny everything concerning her existence. She "wasn't her daughter, but a child she had ADOPTED". Poor Judy, both of her parents lied, but as far as I know she had a good and loving childhood with her mother when she was adopted by her. However, the fact that her mother felt obliged to deny her daughter speaks strongly against the patriarchal rules when it comes to giving birth. They were more than double-tilted towards saving the man and his reputation while ruining the social standing of the woman: "Give birth, but only on our terms, and you shall be rewarded with a social status." That's not ruling with the rod, but with the carrot, and it worked for ages ....

Merle Oberon was a stunning figure in Hollywood, but also a mystery woman to many people. For instance, who was that Indian woman who served her as her lady's maid? Why was she with her, doing her biddings? The truth was that this Indian woman was the mother of the beautiful star, Merle Oberon, and that she had given birth to her when she was only 12 years old. Her father - as is usual in these cases - had disappeared long ago, but no matter who he was he must have been a pedophilia, taking advantage of a child of 11-12. To conceal what had happened, Merle grew up believing that her grandmother was her mother, and her birth mother was her sister. Like in the case of Eartha Kitt and Loretta Young the name of the English pedophilia who had fathered her was blotted out on her birth certificate: The system protected him, but the women had to fend for themselves which they did by denying her race as well as her ancestry. Disgusting that that was necessary to get accepted by society ....

 

Wikipedia

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2468832/Eartha-Kitts-daughter-mothers-attempt-father.html