Queering Motherhood: Narrative and Theoretical Perspectives





Price: $34.95

Page Count: 269

Publication Date: August 2014

ISBN: 978-1-927335-31-4

Few words are as steeped in beliefs about gender, sexuality, and social desirability as “motherhood”. Drawing on queer, postcolonial, and feminist theory, historical sources, personal narratives, film studies, and original empirical research, the authors in this book offer queer re-tellings and reexaminations of reproduction, family, politics, and community. The list of contributors includes emerging writers as well as established scholars and activists such as Gary Kinsman, Damien Riggs, Christa Craven, Cary Costello, Elizabeth Peel, and Rachel Epstein.

Queering Motherhood represents a unique and well-written collection of essays written by a diverse range of authors, including scholars, activists, and queer parents. The authors employ the “queering” framework effectively, raising intriguing examples and contexts in which mothering may and can be “queered.” The inclusion of understudied and rarely interrogat- ed areas, such as queer individuals’ experiences of infant loss, and queer motherhood and disability, represents a particular strength of the text. This collection offers scholars, educators, researchers, and practitioners much to think about and would be an excellent secondary text in a variety of university-level courses, including courses on gender, parenting, and LGBT/ queer issues and lives.
— Abbie E. Goldberg, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Psychology, Clark University

This is a book that truly does address the queering of motherhood, parenthood and family(hood). Cutting-edge scholarship on lesbian, queer, trans and intersex experiences, as well as critical consideration of queer families and the queering of family studies, make this accessible book vital reading for anyone interested in parenting or family.
— Fiona Nelson, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Sociology and Women’s Studies, University of Calgary