Desirous Subjects and Parental Identities: Constructing a Radical Discourse on (Lesbian) Family Sexuality

Abstract

Sexuality is integral to most analyses of lesbian families, but how this culturally constituted sense of ourselves is realized in the home is predominantly lacking. This article aims to look at the ways that sex/uality is typically situated in relation to `the family' and `motherhood', and what consequences arise from this conjuncture. It considers how sex/uality has been (dis)located from lesbian families, and the ways that our children articulate lesbian m(o)therness. It begins to open out a radical discourse on `(lesbian) family sexuality'. The theoretical research is critically informed by the author's status as a lesbian mother and incorporates observations from her own (extended) family network, alongside qualitative research with other lesbian families from the Yorkshire region.