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Maps of family relationships drawn by women engaged in bisexual motherhood: defining family membership

Tasker, Fiona and Delvoye, M. (2018) Maps of family relationships drawn by women engaged in bisexual motherhood: defining family membership. Journal of Family Issues 39 (18), pp. 4248-4274. ISSN 0192-513X.

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Abstract

Family building by bisexual mothers is a neglected area of research, yet this is an important aspect of life course development that may reciprocally influence the sexual identity development of bisexual women and family processes around parenting. Family map drawings (genograms) and interview data were collected from eight cis-gender women from the UK and Republic of Ireland who spoke about their bisexual parenting experience and family relationships. Thematic narrative analysis indicates that participants depict both heteronormative (traditional) extended kinship networks radiating out from a family core centering on them and their children and family of choice network features. Nonetheless certain features appear to be more indirectly presented on some participants’ family maps: namely, complex or marginalized (erased) relationships with additional partners that may sustain sexual identity but contradict both heteronormative and homonormative presentations of family life. Our discussion considers the difficult issues bisexual mothers face in maintaining both their family relationships and a marginalized sexual identity.

Metadata

Item Type: Article
School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences
Depositing User: Fiona Tasker
Date Deposited: 04 Jun 2018 13:09
Last Modified: 27 Feb 2025 03:43
URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/22642

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