Families We Choose by Kath Weston

Families We Choose

Lesbians, Gays, Kinship

Kath Weston

Kath Weston draws upon fieldwork and interviews conducted in the San Francisco Bay area to explore the ways in which gay men and lesbians are constructing their own notions of kinship by drawing on the symbolism of love, friendship and biology. Conventional views of family have depicted gays and lesbians as exiles from the realm of kinship. In recent decades, however, gay men and lesbians have increasingly portrayed themselves as people who seek not only to maintain ties with blood or adoptive relatives but also to establish families of their own. Weston argues that ‘chosen’ families cannot be understood apart from the families in which their members grew up. She presents interviewees’ stories of discovering their sexual identities and of their subsequent relations with straight families. She also discusses changes in gay communities that have helped to shape contemporary discourse about the gay families. Finally, she addresses the political implications of chosen families.

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Details

ISBN 9780231072885
Genre Family; Lesbian Studies
Copyright Date 1991
Publication Date May-91
Publisher Columbia University Press
Format Hardcover
No. of Pages 261
Language English
Rating NotRated
Paper Type Electronic Format Available
Subject Gay Couples – United States; Gay Men – Family Relationships – United States; Gay Parents – United States; Kinship – United States; Lesbians – Family Relationships – United States
BookID 3773

Author: LFWBooks