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Book Titles No access
Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals Becoming Parents or Remaining Childfree
Confronting Social Inequalities
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Publisher:
2015
Summary
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.
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Bibliographic data
Copyright year
2015
ISBN-Print
978-1-4985-2196-3
ISBN-Online
978-1-4985-2197-0
Publisher
Lexington, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
213
Product type
Book Titles
Table of contents
ChapterPages
Contents No access
Acknowledgments No access
1 Families in the Gayby Boom No access Pages 1 - 16
2 Coming Out, Parenthood, and Childlessness No access Pages 17 - 40
3 Homophobia and the Gayby Boom No access Pages 41 - 64
4 Parents’ Decision Making No access Pages 65 - 90
5 Childfree Couples’ Decision Making No access Pages 91 - 108
6 Rearranging and Stepping Out of the Closet to Become Parents No access Pages 109 - 128
7 “Sperm Cocktails” and Other Strategies of Biology Work No access Pages 129 - 160
8 Gayby Steps No access Pages 161 - 172
Appendix A: Methods No access Pages 173 - 182
Appendix B: Sample Demographics No access Pages 183 - 184
Appendix C: Overview of Parents, Their Partners, and Children No access Pages 185 - 188
Appendix D: Overview of Childfree Participants and Their Partners No access Pages 189 - 192
