Free to be you and me, maybe: LGBTQ parents doing gender with their children

• In Event: 2348 - LGBTQ Families and Relationships

Abstract

This paper draws on participant observation with 33 members of families headed by LGBTQ-identified parents, and semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 14 parents from these families. It explores how parents convey messages of gender conformity and non-conformity to their children, and how children respond to these messages. Using a feminist interactionist theoretical framework, this paper considers how parents are doing gender with their children. Two interrelated themes are addressed: (1) the extent to which LGBTQ parents experienced gender policing growing up, and how these lessons carry over in their interactions with their own children; and (2) how LGBTQ parents at times challenge gender conformity through their parenting practices even as they express ambivalence about gender non-conformity and transgender identities. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Author

• Cara A. Bergstrom-Lynch, Eastern Connecticut State University