After the Defense of Marriage Act: Daddy-Daughter Dances, Sex, and Sexuality

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: After the Defense of Marriage Act: Daddy-Daughter Dances, Sex, and Sexuality

Abstract

This theoretical paper considers the political implications of the court’s, and policy-makers’, support of marriage as a cultural ideal. The paper addresses these issues through the lens of daddy-daughter dances, which are enjoying a burst of popularity in US schools. It treats daddy-daughter dances as raising two distinct but interrelated questions. First, given that they involve discrimination on grounds of sex, are they legal? Second, what are the implications of using schools to promote the heterosexual partnerships that daddy-daughter dances validate? The paper considers how schools’ legitimization of some family configurations at the expense of others relates to recent legal decisions regarding sex and sexuality. In the process, it addresses sex and sexuality’s intersections with race and class.

Author

• Amy B. Shuffelton, Loyola University Chicago