Research Catalog

Mommy queerest : contemporary rhetorics of lesbian maternal identity / Julie M. Thompson.

Title
Mommy queerest : contemporary rhetorics of lesbian maternal identity / Julie M. Thompson.
Author
Thompson, Julie M. (Julie Marie)
Publication
Amherst : Univesity of Massachusetts Press, c2002.

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TextRequest in advance HQ75.53 .T49 2002Off-site

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Description
xiii, 177 p.; 24 cm.
Summary
"Mommy Queerest focuses on the historical and contemporary meanings of lesbian motherhood in three cultural domains: the mass media, the U.S. legal system, and recent scholarship ih feminist psychology. Thompson argues that a rhetoric of ambivalence has pervaded the discourse on this subject. Looking closely at the period from 1970 to 2000, she examines articles published in mainstream newspapers such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times and in periodicals such as Time, Newsweek, and Parents. She also scrutinizes such alternative publications as Gay Community News, Lesbian Connection, and Lavender Woman. Whereas the mainstream press has tended to characterize lesbian mothers either as "unreal" or as an imminent threat to the family, the lesbian press has portrayed them alternately as the vanguard of radical feminism or as the ultimate betrayal of the lesbian nation."--Jacket.
Subject
  • Mothers > psychology
  • Mother-Child Relations
  • Mass Media
  • Gender Identity
  • Mothers > legislation & jurisprudence
  • Homosexuality, Female > psychology
  • Lesbian mothers > United States > Psychology
  • Lesbian mothers > Legal status, laws, etc. > United States
  • Lesbians > United States > Identity
  • Children of gay parents > United States > Social conditions
  • Gays in popular culture
  • Lesbians in mass media
  • Lesbians > United States > Identity
  • United States
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (p. 141-169) and index.
Processing Action (note)
  • committed to retain
Contents
Lesbian Motherhood in American Culture -- "Real Lesbians and Sperm Don't Mix" -- Neurotic, Criminal, and a Danger to Children -- "Stop! You're Making Me Sick!" -- Toward the Legitimation of Lesbian Maternal Identity.
ISBN
1558493557 (cloth : alk. paper)
LCCN
^^2001008664
OCLC
48691383
Owning Institutions
Harvard Library