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CATEGORIES:Centre for Family Research Seminar Series
SUMMARY:In Search of Doctors\, Donors and Daddies: Lesbian
  Reproductive Decision-Making - Dr Róisín Ryan-Flo
 od\, Department of Sociology\, University of Essex
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20070605T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20070605T140000
UID:TALK7222AThttp://talks.cam.ac.uk
URL:http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/7222
DESCRIPTION:A growing number of lesbian women are choosing to 
 embark on parenthood in the context of an openly l
 esbian lifestyle. Previous research has often focu
 sed on the experiences of children in these famili
 es. More recently\, researchers have turned their 
 attention to the subjectivities of lesbian parents
  themselves. This paper will explore sexual citize
 nship and lesbian reproductive decision-making in 
 two European countries. The ways in which lesbians
  may reinvent prevailing discourses of parenthood 
 in local contexts has rarely been addressed. In th
 is paper\, discourses of fatherhood among lesbian 
 parents in Sweden and the Republic of Ireland are 
 explored\, based on interviews with 68 participant
 s. Lesbian parents in both countries shared a pref
 erence for a known donor. However\, Swedish lesbia
 n parents placed a strong emphasis on a donor who 
 would play an active parenting role. In contrast\,
  Irish participants preferred donors to have no in
 volvement in parenting. The significance of biolog
 y to kinship was both destabilised and reinforced\
 , while gender and parenting discourses were also 
 reinvented in complex ways. Reproductive decision-
 making among lesbian parents reflects hegemonic di
 scourses of fatherhood in both countries. The ways
  that these discourses are subverted and reinscrib
 ed reveals the situatedness of lesbian parents in 
 national contexts\, where the ‘Other’ is also none
 theless deeply embedded in local discourses. This 
 therefore enables a reconsideration of ‘queering’ 
 by lesbian parent subjects\, whose reproductive de
 cision-making may be characterised by both subvers
 ive and normative aspects in complex ways.
LOCATION:Room 606\, Centre for Family Research
CONTACT:Dr Rosie Ensor
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