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Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, Kinship. By Kath Weston. New York,
Columbia University Press, 1991, 261 pp., $13.95.
Reviewed by Miriam Kaufman, BScN, MD. FRCP5
This book is about kinship relations among a group of people who have been defined by their sexual behavior; however, one of the book's strengths is that it underscores the absurdity of seeing gay and lesbian issues as always being sexuality issues.
The writing in this book is variable. Some of it is easily readable and is clear in its meaning and intent, but I got bogged down in some of the writing that could have been written in simpler words without a loss of content. An example is a sentence on p. 28: "The chart below recapitulates the ideological transformation generated as lesbians and gay men began to inscribe themselves within the domain of kinship."
Unlike more recent books (e.g., Arnup, 1995; Benkov, 1994), this work examines families of choice-kinship groups formed by lesbians and gay men, groups that may include "blood" relatives, but that go beyond biology. It clearly comes out of the intense debate of the 1980s within both the feminist and the gay and lesbian communities regarding the meaning and importance of the family. The religious right has also portrayed "the family" as the only legitimate social unit of our culture, and sees it as being highly vulnerable to erosion by homosexuals.
The heart of this book is contained in the introductory chapter and two others, one entitled "Families We Choose," the other "The Politics of Gay Families." Another chapter, "Exiles from Kinship," explores how gay people have been excluded from traditional family relations. This chapter includes discussion of changes in the way anthropologists are viewing the family. Much work has been done with the assumption that all cultures recognize kinship as a unified construct, an idea that has been challenged in the past 20 years.
The arguments, stories, and theories of the three crucial chapters lead to the development of an idea of families of choice. Within these overlapping families, there is the "ability to weather conflict," an "exchange of material and emotional assistance," "co-parenting arrangements," shared holiday celebrations, and "support for persons with AIDS." Weston feels...