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Same sex intimacies : families of choice and other life experiments / Jeffrey Weeks, Brian Heaphy, and Catherine Donovan.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Weeks, Jeffrey, 1945-
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Same-sex marriage.
- Gay couples--Family relationships.
- Gay couples.
- Families.
- Lesbian couples--Family relationships.
- Lesbian couples.
- Gay adoption.
- Gay parents--Family relationships.
- Gay parents.
- Physical Description:
- x, 245 pages ; 24 cm
- Place of Publication:
- London ; New York : Routledge, 2001.
- Summary:
- Our families are increasingly a matter of choice, and the choices are widening all the time. This is particularly true of the non-heterosexual world, where the last ten years have seen a popular acceptance of same sex partnerships and to a lesser extent of same-sex parenting. Based on extensive interviews with people in a variety of non-traditional relationships, this fascinating new book argues that these developments in the non-heterosexual world are closely linked to wider changes in the meaning of family in society at large and that each can cast light on the other. "Same Sex Intimacies" offers vivid accounts of the different ways non-heterosexual people have been able to create meaningful intimate relationships for themselves and highlights the role of individual agency and collective endeavour in forging these roles: as friends, partners, parents, and as members of communities.
- Contents:
- Happy families? 1
- 'Pick and mix' relationships 3
- Stories we tell each other 5
- 1 Families of choice: the changing context of non-heterosexual relationships 9
- The emergence of families of choice 9
- From identity to relational rights 13
- The politics of intimate life 19
- Living 'connected lives' 25
- 2 Life experiments: the meanings of non-heterosexual relationships 28
- Life stories 28
- A 'queer construct family' 37
- The heterosexual assumption 39
- Self-invention 43
- Everyday experiments 47
- 3 The friendship ethic 51
- The power of friendship 51
- Patterns of friendship 53
- Facing fateful moments 58
- The complexities of friendship 61
- Differences 67
- The value of commitment 69
- The significance of the friendship ethic 76
- 4 In search of home 77
- The different meaning of 'home' 77
- First home 77
- Tales of the city 82
- Reflexive community 86
- Multiple belongings 90
- Ways of living 93
- Everyday practices 98
- Home, community and care 101
- 5 Partnership rites 104
- Couples 104
- The egalitarian ideal 109
- Living with power 114
- Intimacy and love 119
- Affirming commitment 127
- 6 Sexual pleasures 132
- The value of sex 132
- Doing gender? 138
- Undoing gender? 145
- Ethics of relating 148
- Erotics and ethical practice 153
- 7 Parenting 157
- The 'gayby' boom 157
- Parenting stories 160
- Parenting practices 168
- Caring practices 174
- Hazards 176
- The needs of children 178
- 8 Towards intimate citizenship 180
- The unfinished revolution 180
- The possibilities 181
- The risks 184
- Practices of freedom 186
- Assimilation or difference? 191
- Intimate citizenship 196
- Appendix 1 Researching Same Sex Intimacies 200
- Appendix 2 Biographies of interviewees 207.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages [219]-234) and index.
- ISBN:
- 0415254760
- 0415254779
- OCLC:
- 45388524
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