THE STEPMOTHER IN FAMILY RELATIONS

Résumé

This article analyzes family relations from the stepmother's perspective. As a result of new family arrangements, the structure of the contemporary family now includes several members. However, without the places that were so well defined at the beginning of the 20th century, functions and positions have been reinvented. The appearance of the stepmother, which previously could only enter a family in the case of a father's widowhood, fits into that context. We know that not all representations of stepmothers are negative. Still, she is often portrayed as evil or antagonistic, especially in classic Disney fairy tales, carrying what Goffman would call Stigma and Social Identity. Currently, what would be the place of the stepmother in “contemporary conjugalities”? How is the stepmother’s parentality conceived?