Illegitimacy
status of a child born outside of a legal marriage
Illegitimacy is the state of being born out of wedlock, or otherwise a general term for “disreputable parentage”. In many cultures being illegitimate is considered shameful, and the term “bastard”— meaning an illegitimate male child —is a popular English insult.
Quotes
edit- The regeneration of the inferior or bastard races by the superior ones is consistent with God's plans for humanity.
- Ernest Renan, The Intellectual and Moral Reform of France (1871), as translated by Asselin Charles, in "Colonial Discourse Since Christopher Columbus", Journal of Black Studies, vol. 26, no. 2 (November 1995), p. 147
- Up the Noran Water
In by Inglismaddy,
Annie's got a bairnie
That hasna got a daddy.
Some say it's Tammas's
An' some say it's Chay's;
An' naebody expec'it it,
Wi' Annie's quiet ways.- Helen Cruickshank, "Shy Geordie", st. 1, in Up the Noran Water (1934)
- Illegitimi non carborundum
- Mock-Latin for “don’t let the bastards grind you down”
- Anonymous (c. 1940)
- At the heart of the controversy in these cases are those recurring pregnancies that pose no danger whatsoever to the life or health of the mother but are, nevertheless, unwanted for any one or more of a variety of reasons -- convenience, family planning, economics, dislike of children, the embarrassment of illegitimacy, etc.
- Byron White, U.S. Supreme Court, one of two dissenters in Roe v. Wade, (January 22, 1973)
- What we have here is clear-cut evidence that illegitimacy—something I've always said we should talk about in terms of not having it—leads to drug abuse.
- Dan Quayle, as quoted in Esquire (August 1992)
- Jon Snow: "What's my name?"
- Samwell Tarly: "Jon Snow."
- Jon Snow: "And why is my surname 'Snow'?"
- Samwell Tarly: "Because you're a bastard from the North."
- Robb Stark: Is this some kind of trick? Why do you want to help him?
- Tyrion Lannister: I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples, bastards and broken things.
- Game of Thrones, “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things” (May 8, 2011), dialogue by Bryan Cogman
- The illegitimacy rate for births among teenaged girls hovered around five to seven percent for decades, until about 1960. Between 1960 and 1970, it doubled as the birth control pill helped usher in the 'Sexual Revolution.' After 1970, the teenage illegitimacy rate literally exploded as comprehensive sex education programs and school-based clinics were introduced. The overall illegitimacy rate for all children born in the United States was 5 percent in 1960. This rate has more than quintupled to more than 28%.
- "The Birth Control Pill: Enabler of the Sexual Revolution", Pro-Life Activist's Encyclopedia, American Life League, EWTN (n.d.)
