Lesbian Motherhood Gender, Families and Sexual Citizenship [Paperback]

This book studies the growing number of lesbian women embarking on parenthood after coming out. Theoretical debates about lesbian motherhood often consider its assimilative or transgressive dimensions. This book offers?a different approach, contextualising lesbian motherhood in relation to sexual citizenship and hegemonic discourses of kinshipIntroduction: Charting the Lesbian Baby Boom Gender, Families and Social Change In Search of Doctors, Donors and Daddies: Lesbian Reproductive Decision-making Queering 'Public' Space Negotiating the Biological 'Tie': Identity, Power and Difference among Lesbian Parents Challenging Heteronormativity? Gender Flexibility and Lesbian Parenting Conclusions: Beyond Assimilation and Transgression Bibliography

'opens up a range of fascinating debates about lesbian parenting decisions' - European Journal of Women's Studies

'offers a unique and original exposition of the complex and multi-faceted issues contemporary lesbians face when deciding to become parents' - Feminism and Psychology

'...an invigorating discussion of the ways in which state policy inflects the desire for and experience of parenthood for lesbians. Through her gaze, questions of sexual citizenship assume new breadth and complexity, and the reader is encouraged to rethink the vexed issues of assimilation vs. subversion as they have shaped discussions of LGBT family and parenthood.' - Journal of Contemporary Sociology

'...[an] extraordinary book...The complexity and subtlety of Ryan-Flood's analysis prevents a simplistic reading of actions and decisions made by lesbian parents as either oppressions or resistance...This timely book will be of interest to academics and researchers interested in social changes and challenges around the institution and everyday practices of the family, in social policy and family law and reproductive technologies, as well as to scholars of queer theory and to those interested in llsv