This book recognizes that intense public battles are being waged in the U.S. over the rights of LGB people to form legally and culturally recognized families. Their families are under a kind of sociopolitical scrutiny at this historical moment that compels us all to take stock of our strategies of family-building and, more broadly, the meaning of family in the U.S. today. Through in-depth, open-ended, qualitative interviews with 61 self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual people regarding how they came to have children or remain childless/childfree, this book reveals the challenges posed by homophobia and discrimination and showcases the creative strategies, resilience, and resourcefulness of lesbians, bisexuals, and gays as they build families (with or without children) after coming out. From descriptions of how the early process of coming out affected the desire to parent or remain childfree, to stories about the impact of homophobia and discrimination on the decision-making process, to the dynamics within couples that lead to becoming parents or remaining childfree, to examining how cultural notions of the strength of biology are employed when having children, to accounts of how the closet can be used strategically when bringing children into a family, their voices form the heart of this book. In a sociopolitical context in which gay, lesbian, and bisexual people often have to struggle to access the array of rights and opportunities that are afforded to most heterosexual people without question, addressing the questions raised in this book is an urgent and necessary endeavor.
Les mer
This book draws on qualitative interviews with lesbian, gay, and bisexual people regarding whether and how they came to have children.
Chapter 1: Families in the Gayby Boom Chapter 2: Coming Out, Parenthood, and Childlessness Chapter 3: Homophobia and the Gayby Boom Chapter 4: Parents’ Decision-making Chapter 5: Childfree Couples’ Decision-making Chapter 6: Rearranging and Stepping Out of the Closet to Become Parents Chapter 7: “Sperm Cocktails” and Other Strategies of Biology Work Chapter 8: Gayby Steps Appendix A: Methods Appendix B: Sample Demographics Appendix C: Overview of Parents, Their Partners, and Children Appendix D: Overview of Childfree Participants and Their Partners
Les mer
In 2004–2005, sociologist Bergstrom-Lynch interviewed 61 mostly white LGBT individuals from Michigan and Massachusetts about children and parenthood.  All were in committed relationships; about half were parents, half were child-free.  The current ‘gayby boom’ was then underway, and Bergstrom-Lynch quizzed her subjects about why they wanted or did not want children, their joint decision-making processes, their strategies to acquire children, and their concerns about public reactions to their LGBT parenthood and abuse their children might face.  As LGBT stigma has faded and same-sex marriage declared legal, she speculates whether the recent mainstreaming of LGBT families serves to maintain conventional American expectations of persons, marriage, and parenthood.  She certainly documents Americans' preference for biologically related children over adoption among gay and straight alike.  Despite social pressure to parent, many LGBT couples still remain content to dote on nieces and nephews or dogs and cats.  Book chapters feature numerous extracts from interview transcripts that support Bergstrom-Lynch’s analysis…. Anyone contemplating LGBT parenthood will benefit from the personal experiences and insights documented here. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries.
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781498521987
Publisert
2017-08-08
Utgiver
Vendor
Lexington Books
Vekt
345 gr
Høyde
230 mm
Bredde
151 mm
Dybde
18 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
224

Biographical note

Cara Bergstrom-Lynch is associate professor of sociology at Eastern Connecticut State University.