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Societal Attitudes Of Gay And Queer Families

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Western households are a site for ‘traditional’ family values because they espouse rigid gender identities and compulsory heterosexuality (Erhart 2013). Lesbian and queer families are excluded from ‘traditional’ notions of family and reproduction which constitute the ideological locus of domesticity (Hammock 2009; Seidman 1997). Societal attitudes mandate lesbian compulsory childlessness (Parks 1998) because lesbians present a threat to heterosexual family values, and are distinctly non-procreative (Thompson 2002). This rhetoric is a dynamic/static binary of family. Dynamic family forms represent ‘traditional’ families which are White, heterosexual, and functionally procreative (Thompson 2002; Farrow 2014). Unable to fulfill the …show more content…

This is evident in the couple’s thought process selecting Paul’s genetic profile which highlighted their considerations to minimize illness, calculate health, intelligence, or success (Clarke, Mamo, et al 2009). These considerations are epitomized when Nic, Jules, and Paul meet for the first time. Under the guise of getting to know Paul, Nic interrogates him. She asks about his employment, education, marital status. When Paul mentions dropping out of college, Nic reacts with tensely pursed face, and mockingly asks “Why’s that?” Nic seems to feel cheated – as though she did not receive the advertised product they paid for. Her annoyed reaction is evidence of a consumer culture of biomedical services, such as assistive reproductive technologies and sperm banks, and it rests on a slippery slope of market driven eugenics. Biomedical services and legal institutions grant access to same-sex marriage and parenthood, ultimately securing a sense of equality, normality, and citizenship (Clarke, Mamo, Fosket, Fisher, and Shim 2003). Conversely, The Fosters Stef and Lena share in parenting Stef’s biological son from a previous heterosexual relationship, adopted Latinx twins, and begin fostering a teen girl and her younger brother who is rescued from an abusive foster parent. Both family units represent a nuclear form as derivatives of straight families. They are married, cohabitate in a common residence, share in economic cooperation and division of labour, embrace the two-parent

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