Am I That Name? Middle-class lesbian motherhood in post-apartheid South Africa

Distiller, Natasha

doi:10.16995/sim.72

Studies in the Maternal

2011

DOI: 10.16995/sim.72

|View full text |Cite

Am I That Name? Middle-class lesbian motherhood in post-apartheid South Africa

Natasha Distiller¹

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...

Citation Types

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Year Published

2013

2016

Publication Types

Select...

Article3

Relationship

Self Cite0

Independent3

Authors

Journals

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This has been seen in growing numbers of research accounts that deconstruct normative notions of heterosexuality (Shefer et al., 2000; Tracey, 2007) as well as in advances in securing legal rights for LGBTI individuals, where South Africa legally recognises same-sex civil unions through legislation introduced in 2006 (De Vos and Barnard, 2007). There is also increased visibility of same-gendered family configurations, reflected in a growing body of research that explores how South African lesbian women navigate motherhood and the marginalisation of lesbian family unions (Distiller, 2011; Lubbe, 2007). Although bisexual women are not explicitly included in these legal and research accounts, such challenges to heteronormativity have resulted in greater freedom to define ‘marriage’ and ‘relationships’, where dominant constructions of marriage have been altered and expanded (Bonthuys, 2008).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Negotiating heteronormativity: Exploring South African bisexual women’s constructions of marriage and family

Lynch

Maree

2013

Feminism & Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although heteronormativity remains firmly in place in many contexts, challenges to a construction of heterosexuality as natural and superior increasingly emerge. However, despite increasing visibility of such challenges, bisexuality remains largely absent from such debates. Bisexual women occupy a potentially interesting position in discourses around heteronormativity and this paper explores how heteronormativity functions in the accounts of 13 South African bisexual women. Through a discourse analysis of interview data, a discourse of heterosexual marriage as normative and socially valued is identified as exerting a powerful influence on participants’ constructions of relationships and families. The findings further explore ways in which bisexuality is complicated by such a heteronormative marriage discourse and indicate a lack of integration of a bisexual identity in participants’ accounts. We suggest that drawing bisexuality into debates around heteronormativity can contribute to increased positions from which to challenge the coercive effects of heteronormativity.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Negotiating heteronormativity: Exploring South African bisexual women’s constructions of marriage and family

Lynch

Maree

2013

Feminism & Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

The Emotional Experience of Motherhood in Planned Lesbian Families in the South African Context: “… Look How Good a Job I’m Doing, Look How Amazing We Are”

Ewyk

Kruger

2016

Journal of Homosexuality

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article focuses on lesbian mothers' emotional experience of motherhood. It forms part of a larger qualitative and exploratory study with 10 lesbian couples in South Africa on their lived experience of planned motherhood. The study is located in a feminist phenomenological framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and interview transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. Participants described many different emotions associated with new motherhood: hope, joy, love, anxiety, helplessness, exhaustion, and feeling companionship and togetherness as well as feeling compromised and deprived. Mothers described these emotions but also focused on the development of a new identity, that of being a mother.

show abstract

“Homophobia hurts”: Mourning as resistance to violence in South Africa

Moreau

2016

Journal of Lesbian Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Much has been written on the successful lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex movement in South Africa, and the resulting institutionalization of sexual minority rights. Comparatively less has been written about the forms of activism undertaken specifically by Black lesbians that are not oriented toward legal change. In this article, I assert the need to examine public demonstrations of mourning as an act of Black lesbian resistance to violence in South Africa. Based on in-depth interviews with members of Free Gender, a Black lesbian organization, I argue that members' conceptualizations of mourning as providing community support force a reconsideration of what it means to be human. In order to grasp the decolonial potential of Free Gender's activism, I draw on Sylvia Wynter's argument that a singular Western bourgeois conception of human has come to dominate globally.

show abstract

scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.

Contact Info

customersupport@researchsolutions.com

10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614

Henderson, NV 89052, USA

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Blog Terms and Conditions API Terms Privacy Policy Contact Cookie Preferences Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

Made with 💙 for researchers

Part of the Research Solutions Family.

Am I That Name? Middle-class lesbian motherhood in post-apartheid South Africa

Cited by 3 publications

References 24 publications

Negotiating heteronormativity: Exploring South African bisexual women’s constructions of marriage and family

Negotiating heteronormativity: Exploring South African bisexual women’s constructions of marriage and family

The Emotional Experience of Motherhood in Planned Lesbian Families in the South African Context: “… Look How Good a Job I’m Doing, Look How Amazing We Are”

“Homophobia hurts”: Mourning as resistance to violence in South Africa

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About