ABSTRACT
The vicissitudes of the desire to have a child in contemporary parenthoods lead to think about and explore their scope in psychoanalytic clinical work. Technology has introduced a new order in procreation, in the manner of an event, leading, in turn, to new ways of filiation. This chapter sets out a path following the guiding thread of the desire to have a child in women, in men, and in relation to the new origins. Beginning in childhood, each woman creates complex networks concerning maternity, connected to the vicissitudes of her femininity, her history, and epochal context with its mandates and ideals. Contemporary maternities and paternities lead to think that the desire to have a child is permeated by contexts of the day as well as cultural ideals and mandates transmitted throughout generations. Conflicts and difficulties in accessing parenthood in men and women unfold in the course of clinical work in individual or couple treatments.
