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Reflection about family, what is family
Reflection about family, what is family
Reflection about family, what is family
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What is queering the family? How is this process in tension with the marriage equality movement? The family is fundamentally one of the most important factors in our society today due to its importance in governing a large part of our values and beliefs. Traditionally, in reference to this, there is a strict regimen by which we are expected to accept and live by. Although the ‘heteronormative nuclear family model’ currently stands as the dominant family ideology, years ago an “informal revolution” began. (Burke & Olsen; Queering the Family) During this incidence, queer families began to defy the boundaries set before them which inevitably rejected heteronormative family expectations. As a result, the phrase ‘queering the family’ refers to the process by which an individual actively challenges the normative and conformist understandings of ‘the family’. This is done by way of carrying out our routine practices within our own families. (Queering the Family) …show more content…
In the absence of an account that intentionally embraces a challenge of heteronormativity, it is more likely that gays and lesbians will be conformed into the cultural norm based on heterosexuality than that their partaking in marriage will undo heterosexual privilege. Furthermore, compared to marriage, queering the families allows for the existence of alternative families which ultimately questions monogamy, relationship expectations, etc. (Kimport; Queering the Family) In conclusion, we can detect that because family is something you do there is a sense of freedom and agency present. (Weeks, Heaphy & Donovan; Queering the Family) In our everyday lives we constantly look for new ways to be innovative and make what is familial seem odd. The process of queering the family is one that prides itself on creativity and challenging the dominant understandings of ‘family’ by creating new roles and
The idea of “family” is almost entirely socially constructed. From grandparents, to friends, to wives and fiancés, the means by which we decide who is related to us and who is not is decided by the person and their milieu. In Mignon R. Moore’s “Independent Women: Equality in African-American Lesbian Relationships”, Eviatar Zerubavel’s Ancestors and Relatives: Genealogy, Identity and Community, and Franz Kafka’s The Judgement, this idea is tested. Who do we consider close enough to us to share our most intimate details and how do we choose them? Each piece offers a different view, which is the “right” way for each of the people described, whether broad (as in Zerbavel’s reading) or specific (as in Moore’s reading), but there are also many similarities in the ways family is defined and actualized.
The American family is constantly undergoing changes. In the early 1600s, the Godly Family was the prevalent family structure of the first Europeans who immigrated to the United States (Aulette, 2010). Until 1780, families were strictly patriarchal with a male head of the family, who supervised “all social activities, including education, health care, and welfare”, and insured the family’s self-sufficiency within its community (Aulette, 2010). Following this form, the Modern Family and its sub-categories, the Democratic Family and the Companionate Family, were the dominant family structures until the 1970s (Aulette, 2010). Throughout the course of almost 200 years, families evolved into more private institutions aside from the community, women withdrew more and more from physical work on the family’s property and concentrated on their designated occupation as a mother, caregiver and housewife. Men were still the head of the family in terms of pursuing an occupation to financially provide for the family’s needs. During this time, gender-specific roles within the family were reinforced, which are still partially in effect in today’s society and family structure. Since the mid-20th century, the American family seems to be changing more rapidly than ever, partially because of the influences of the Great Depression and World War II, which led to the remarkable baby boom of 1946 to 1964. Not only did the year of 1970 mark the beginning of the most recent stage in the history of the (European) American family, the Postmodern Family, it also was the year in which the first gay couple applied for a marriage license (ProCon.org, 2013). Even though the two men’s request had been denied back then, same-sex couples and their family structure h...
One definition is “a significant social group in society typically consisting of one or two parents and their children.” While such definition is a good starting point, some modern family structures are excluded by such definition. In her essay, “Family: Idea, Institution, and Controversy,” Betty Farrell apparently assumes that the traditional family has dramatically changed, and the dynamics of change—altered the definition of a “family.” A family is no longer a picture of a particular image of the mythic past, referring to the golden days of the “1950s.” It is no longer a father, mother and their biological children living together under one roof (and certainly not with the a breadwinner father and a stay-at-home mother). In today 's modern society, it is now common to see women raising their children by themselves without their husbands’ help; unmarried couples living together; and gay and lesbian couples—while far from being universally accepted—adopting and raising children to complete their families. Therefore, despite the children living in one-parent households, or they do not live with their “married-heterosexual-biological-parents” under the same roof—does not necessarily mean they are not families. Farrell states that “a family is defined not so much by a particular set of people as by the quality of relationships that bind them together.” In other words, Farrell believes that a “family” is more than just a collection
In her book, An Unconventional Family, Sandra Bem describes her experience with an egalitarian marriage and her “gender-liberated, anti-homophobic, and sex-positive” (Bem, 1998, p. 178) child rearing practice. The book focuses on Bem’s childhood, her decision to marry Daryl Bem, her career, the decision on their parenting style and the outcomes of those decisions. While the book is a very interesting account of this type of parenting and marriage it, like many books, has its strengths and limitations. However, it discusses many concepts that, even today, are still considered relevant.
Many couples in the United States idealize the myth of a “tradition family”. The idea that a woman can spend quality time with her child while maintaining an effective sexual life with her partner seemed to have caused a lot of stress during the 1950s. Coontz’s says “this hybrid idea drove thousands of women to therapists, tranquilizers, or alcohol when they tried to live up to it.” (Coontz, 569). Which explains that it is merely impossible to try to mold a family to be “ideal.” Many families still strive for a traditional life, which they define as life “back in the day.” They need to forget the past and start living in the 21st century. “Two-thirds of respondents to one national poll said they wanted more traditional standards of family life.”(Coontz, 582). Which goes to show that many families want to change to what once used to be perceived as an “ideal family” but “the same percentage of people rejected the idea that women should return to their traditional role.”(Coontz, 582). Families want to take bits and pieces from what used to be “traditional families” over time and create their own i...
In the closing statements of John D’Emilio’s article Capitalism and Gay Identity, he posits “that the relationship between capitalism and family is fundamentally contradictory. One the one hand, capitalism continually weakens the material foundation of family life… On the other, it needs to push men and women into families … The elevation of the family to ideological preeminence guarantees that capitalist society will reproduce not just children, but heterosexism and homophobia” (474).
In a structured society, as one we’ve continued to create today, has raised concerns over the way society uses the term queer. Queer was a term used to describe “odd” “peculiar” or “strange” beings or things alike, but over the centuries societies began to adapt and incorporate the term into their vocabulary. Many authors such as Natalie Kouri-Towe, Siobhan B. Somerville, and Nikki Sullivan have distinct ways of describing the way the word queer has been shaped over the years and how society has viewed it as a whole. In effect, to talk about the term queer one must understand the hardship and struggle someone from the community faces in their everyday lives. My goal in this paper is to bring attention to the history of the term queer, how different
The influence of the family and the need to belong to one are extremely powerful forms of control. The deviance that many Latin families try to control is homosexuality as it conflicts with the one of the main concepts of Latin familism, which is to continue the family name and produce children. When it comes to the relationships between LBQ Latinas and their families, there are various degrees of acceptance and control they are subjected. Katie Acosta’s “How Could You Do This To Me?”: How Lesbian, Bisexual, and Queer Latinas Negotiate Sexual Identity with Their Families provides ‘three distinct interaction strategies that study participants report engaging in with their families of origin: (1) erasure of nonconformity, (2) sexual silencing, and (3) avoidance after disclosure’ (Acosta 64). Erasure control is the most direct form of control that the family has. Erasure of the nonconformity is used by the family by erasing and denying the queer identity, sometimes with ‘manipulation tactics’ (Acosta 64). Ways that the Latina women exert control over their LBQ identities are silencing it (and not coming out) and then avoiding their family after coming out. Despite nothing ever being spoken about homosexuality, ‘respondents believe everyone is silently aware of their same-sex relationships’. Familial control of sexuality is powerful, however, as sexuality is a core part of self it cannot completely be control or suppressed. Even though they must continue in secret, or move away, queer women continue to have same sex relationships though it is not always easy to do
The article “The Modern Definition of Family” by Alexandra Temblador published on January 7, 2015, from the website thenextfamily.com, gives multiple examples of the different kinds of families. Some of her examples are shown in the film such as families being diverse, families being a certain size, and how families are not blood related (Temblador). Temblador suggests that we should redefine family “as a close-knit unit of individuals joined together without distinction to race/ethnicity, biology, sexual orientation, age, generation, or presence in households, cemented through one common characteristic: love.”
Most people who have lived with family have at one point in their lives come across family conflict, especially where their views clash. Family conflicts and miscommunications have often been problems between family members. Taking sexual orientation as an example, many gay adolescents in today’s society feel the negative backlash of e...
Note: This paper has a very long Annotated Bibliography. In recent years, same-sex relationships have become more encompassing in US society. State legislation is changing such as accepting gay marriages, enforcing anti-discrimination laws, and legal gay adoptions; the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is becoming public. Gay-headed families, like heterosexuals, are diverse and varying in different forms.
Dr. Hicks (2008), a scholar at the University of Salford, stated profoundly that “instead of asking whether gay parenting is bad for kids, we should ask how contemporary discourses of sexuality maintain the very idea that lesbian and gay families are essentially different and, indeed, deficient.” By viewing same-sex parenting as an equal means of bringing up a child, research could move on to deeper studies that incorporate this family structure into analyses of children, marriages, and families.
"A family is a small social group of people related by ancestry or affection, who share common values and goals, who may live together in the same dwelling, and who may participate in the bearing and raising of children. They have a physical or emotional connection with each other that is ongoing" (Vissing, 2011) and is the foundation of all societies. They can be formed by a grouping of father-mother-children or even more complicated combination of relatives. In the primary stage of family life in the United States, everyone from every generation lived together in one house. Subsequently, the idea of traditional family evolved and a married couple with children is at present, often called the traditional family. There are many types of families; however, this paper will focus on the traditional family. It will describe how the functionalist perspective, conflict perspective, and the interactionism theory apply to the sociological institution known as a family. It will explain some of the similarities and differences between the sociological theories in regards to families and how they affect the family members.
The sociological definition of the family is “a set of people related by blood, marriage or some other agreed-upon relationship, or adoption, who share the primary responsibility for reproduction and caring for members of society” (Schaeffer, 2009, p. 288). While the nuclear family (a man, a woman, and their children) was once the primary definition of family, now it refers to many familial configurations. Single-parent families, blended families, same-sex couples, traditional nuclear families and single-parents who have adopted are just a few of the configurations that society in general now views as a family. A healthy family will provide a place of unconditional love, acceptance and support.
The family has been referred to as the most vital of the social institutions (Alexander, 2010). The definition of what it means to be a family has evolved over the past several generations. In technical terms, the U.S. Census Bureau defines a family as a group of two or more people residing together related by birth, marriage, or adoption. (U.S. Census, 2010). Categories of families that fit this definition include married couples with and without children, blended families, single parent, and extended family households. Same-sex and unmarried couples with and without children and individuals living alone are not included in this group, though they are a rising segment of the population. The make-up of family and household types at any given time has major consequences for society (Katz & Stern, 2007). Major systems such as economic political, legal, and other social institutions are all impacted by changes in family dynamics. This paper will explore the evolution of the family unit and examine the reciprocal link between this shift and surrounding systems. The relationship between these changes and contemporary systems theory will also be discussed.