Youth Familial Entrapment: How Young Women Navigate Violence, Marriage, and the State

• In Event: Critical heterosexualities in the Sociology of Sexualities

Abstract

Early marriage involving minors remains legal in most US states and increases young women’s risk of intimate partner violence. This paper draws on 33 life history interviews with women who were married as minors in the United States to demonstrate that family violence operates not only as a consequence of, but also as a catalyst for, early marriage. I develop the concept of youth familial entrapment to describe the broader social conditions that construct the family as solely responsible for the care of minors and the resulting limitation of young women’s options for escaping violence in their family of origin to reinvestments in other heteronormative patriarchal family formations. In doing so, this research provides an empirical case for understanding one way the state socializes youth into heterosexuality and reinforces marriage as a solution to social problems. I conclude by arguing for the deprivatization of care and development of community-based, non-carceral alternatives for youth experiencing family violence.

Author

• Jamie O'Quinn, California State Univ-San Bernardino