Hegemonic Heteronormativity: Toward a New Era of Queer Family Theory

Abstract

More than a decade has passed since the first iterations of queer theory were introduced to the academic lexicon of family studies. Since then, queer theorizing of families has percolated gently through our field's journals and subdisciplines, informing research, practice, and pedagogy. As diversity continues to emerge within families, the 10th anniversary of Journal of Family Theory & Review provides a ripe opportunity to review the history of queer family theories, and the research they have framed and informed over the past 12 years. We present this information, summarize the foundational queer family model, discuss our critiques of it, and propose a new model to help guide research and practice with families in the decade to come.

Surfacing Family Privilege and Supremacy in Family Science: Toward Justice for All

“…Scholars of Black family life have long critiqued the ways in which diverse family configurations in communities of color have been pathologized, stigmatized, and depicted as deviant and lacking (Billingsley, ; Coles & Green, ; Hill, ; McAdoo, ). Scholars of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) families (e.g., Allen & Mendez, ; Badgett, ; Oswald, ) have linked family privilege to heteronormativity and the unearned advantages that come from membership in the Standard North American Family (SNAF). The SNAF is characterized as a White, married, opposite‐sex, monogamous couple who embodies traditional gender roles while rearing their biological children in the home they own in a middle‐class neighborhood (Smith, ).…”

Intersectional insights from an MDMA-assisted psychotherapy training trial: An open letter to racial/ethnic and sexual/gender minorities

“…Not once did I feel forced to discuss my issues any more than I desired. In fact, I believe that the male-female, husband-wife, parental figure-like composition of the therapy team facilitated a highly compassionate, candid, and ultimately, corrective interaction in regard to the discussion of my sexuality [I write this in recognition of queer critiques of the hegemonic nature of heteronormative families (e.g., Allen & Mendez, 2018); while the presence of different-gender therapists provided a corrective experience when it came to disclosure of my sexuality-related issues, other people might benefit more from having same-gender therapists for various reasons (e.g., feeling more safe or comfortable with a non-heteronormative therapy team)]. There was also an indescribable experience of being "seen" and "heard" as a queer person of color in a White heteronormative society simply by having an older female therapist of color sitting patiently across the room, conveying acceptance, nurturance, and in a sense, nonjudgmental "permission" to open up about my issues.…”

Grieving those Who Still Live: Loss Experienced by Parents of Transgender Children

“…Indeed, two fundamental views influence the performative processes facing each other: the traditional one, based on essentialism driving binary logic, which defines the irreducible natural difference between male and female, versus the constructivist one, which emphasises the compulsory action of culture and situates social factors in the development of identities (cf. Allen & Mendez 2018, Halim, Walsh, Tamis-LeMonda, Zosuls & Ruble 2018, Martin, Ruble & Szkrybalo 2002, Romm et al 2018, Testoni 2012).…”

“…The DSM III-R (American Psychiatric Association 1987) also included the "non-transgender type", referring to persons who do not want to intervene surgically on their body, whereas the DSM IV (American Psychiatric Association 1994) classified it as an autonomous disorder under "gender identity disorders". Over the last decades, confuting this perspective through the recognition of the continuum between male and female differentiation (Allen & Mendez 2018, Argüello 2016, Knotts 2018, Riggs & Treharne 2017, more recent queer studies have been widely influencing both Western policies and academic psychology (Few-Demo et al 2016, Hicks & Jeyasingham 2016, McDonald 2015, Peñaloza & Ubach 2015, Pullen et al 2016, Rumens, de Souza & Brewis 2018. However, even though in the latest version of the DSM (DSM V, American Psychiatric Association 2013), people can be identified as males, females or other categories, and gender non-compliance is not considered as a mental or sexual disorder, the problem is not totally solved since transgender identity is still classified as "Gender Dysphoria", which implies a clinically significant problem.…”