An invitation into doing reproductive justice queerly.Queer theory and reproductive justice need each other—now more than ever. As liberals and leftists increasingly frame reproductive justice in terms of LGBTQ+ rights, often adopting the language of “queerness,” it has become difficult to see that their political demands and strategies are often quite conservative. In Reproductive Justice, Queerly, Carly Thomsen examines typical reproductive justice issues—including abortion, surrogacy, crisis pregnancy centers, paid parental leave, and parenting—in queer ways. She shows what can happen when we bring queer theory and reproductive justice together: a queerer, more powerful articulation of what we are fighting for.
Carly Thomsen is Associate Professor in the Department of English and Creative Writing and the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Rice University. She is author of Visibility Interrupted: Rural Queer Life and the Politics of Unbecoming and coeditor of Feminist Studies: An Introductory Reader. She is also the proud creator of the world’s first reproductive justice mini golf course.
ContentsList of IllustrationsOn the Task at Hand: A PrologueReproductive Justice, Queerly: An Introduction1. Surrogacy Without Surrogates: On Gay Men and Surrogacy2. The Heteronormativity of Paid Parental Leave3. The Woman Question, The Trans Question: On Abortion and Gender4. Abortion as Gender Transgression: Reproductive Justice, Queer Theory, and Anti–Crisis Pregnancy Center Activism5. Queer Feminist ParentingConclusion: Playing with Queer Theory—The Queer Potential of ArtEpilogue: Onward, Queerly—Art Exhibitions and Mini GolfAcknowledgmentsAppendix: Methods for Quantitative AnalysisNotesIndex
“Looks at how language deployed in the name of queerness and reproductive justice can end up reinforcing the very structures it is meant to challenge.”