Table Of ContentFeminism and Families
Thinking Gender
Edited by Linda Nicholson
Also published in the series
FeminismlPostmodernism Postmodern Revisionings of the Po
Linda Nicholson litical
Anna Yeatman
Gender Trouble
Judith Butler Moral Dilemmas of Feminism
Laurie Shrage
Words of Power
Andrea Nye Subjection and Subjectivity
Diana T. Meyers
Femininity and Domination
Sandra Bartky Feminist Contentions
Seyla Benhabib, Judith Butler,
Disciplining Foucault
Drucilla Cornell, and Nancy Fraser
Jana Sawicki
Feminists Read Habermas
Beyond Accommodation
Johanna Meehan
Drucilla Cornell
Sacrificial Logics
Embattled Eros
Allison Weir
Steven Seidman
Feminist Genealogies, Colonial
Erotic Welfare
Legacies, Democratic Futures
Linda Singer
M. Jacqui Alexander and Chandra
Materialist Feminism and Talpade Mohanty, editors
the Politics of Discourse
Rosemary Hennessy
An Ethic of Care
Mary Jeanne Larrabee
Feminist Epistemologies
Linda Alcoff and Elizabeth Potter
Gender Politics and Post-Commu
ntsm
Nanette Funk and Magda Mueller
Engenderings
Naomi Scheman
Feminist Theory and the Classics
Nancy Rabinowitz and Amy Rich
lin
Feminism and Families
Edited and with an Introduction
by Hilde Lindemann Nelson
First published 1997 by Routledge
Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OXI4 4RN
711 Third Avenue. New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © 1997 by Routledge
Design: Jack Donner
All rights reserved. No part ofthis book may be reprinted or reprod
uced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Notices
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and
knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or
experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should
be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom
they have a professional responsibility.
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are
used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Feminism and families / edited and with an introduction by Hilde Lindemann "-1elson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-415-91253-2 (hbk) - ISBN-13: 978-0-415-91254-9 (pbk)
L Family. 2. Feminism. 1. Nelson, Hilde Lindemann.
HQ734.F374 1996
306.85-dc20 96-28729
crp
This book is for Margaret Urban Walker
This page intentionally left blank
CCoonntteennttss
IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn 1
HHiillddee LLiinnddeemmaannnn NNeellssoonn
II.. HHIISSTTOORRIIEESS
FFaammiilliieess aanndd FFeemmiinniisstt TThheeoorryy:: SSoommee PPaasstt aanndd PPrreesseenntt IIssssuueess 13
SSuussaann MMoolllleerr OOkkiinn
TThhee MMyytthh ooff tthhee TTrraaddiittiioonnaall FFaammiillyy 2277
LLiinnddaa NNiicchhoollssoonn
""TThhee FFaammiillyy"" aanndd RRaaddiiccaall FFaammiillyy TThheeoorryy 4433
NNaaoommii ZZaacckk
IIII.. TTHHEE BBRREEAAKKDDOOWWNN OOFF TTHHEE FFAAMMIILLYY
AArree FFaammiilliieess OOuutt ooff DDaattee?? 5555
MMaarryy MMiiddgglleeyy aanndd JJuuddiitthh HHuugghheess
BBaabbyyssttrriikkee!! 6699
LLaauurraa MM.. PPuurrddyy
FFeemmiinniissmm bbyy AAnnyy OOtthheerr NNaammee 7766
MMiicchheellee MM.. MMooooddyy--AAddaammss
FFlluuiidd FFaammiilliieess:: TThhee RRoollee ooff CChhiillddrreenn iinn CCuussttooddyy AArrrraannggeemmeennttss 9900
EElliissee LL..EE.. RRoobbiinnssoonn,, HHiillddee LLiinnddeemmaannnn NNeellssoonn,,
aanndd JJaammeess LLiinnddeemmaannnn NNeellssoonn
III. INTIMATE KNOWINGS
Privacy, Self-Knowledge, and Pluralistic Communes: lOS
An Invitation to the Epistemology of the Family
John Hardwig
Addiction and Knowledge: Epistemic Disease 116
and the Hegemonic Family
Judith Bradford and Crispin Sartwell
IV. WHO'S IN, WHO'S OUT?
Family Outlaws: Rethinking the Connections between Feminism, 131
Lesbianism, and the Family
Cheshire Calhoun
Who Takes Care of the Maid's Children? 151
Exploring the Costs of Domestic Service
Mary Romero
V. FAMILIES AND MEDICINE
Child Abuse and Neglect: Cross-Cultural Considerations 173
Fran<,;oise Baylis and Jocelyn Downie
Gays, Lesbians, and the Use of Alternate Reproductive Technologies 188
Sidney Callahan
VI. IMAGES WE DON'T NEED
The Idea of Fatherhood 205
Sara Ruddick
Sexuality, the Family, and Nationalism 221
Bat-Ami Bar On
The Family Romance: A Fin-de-Siecle Tragedy 235
Diana Tietjens Meyers
Contributors 255
Index 259
Introduction
Hilde Lindemann Nelson
An upsurge of interest in families has appeared recently in the popular
highbrow press, much of it neoconservative, but some of it apparently
motivated by the Left's growing resistance to libertarian individualism.
This renewed interest has been accompanied by a new political and legal
focus on families, of which the Family Leave Act, children seeking the
court's permission to disown their birthparents, judicial affirmation of the
rights of biological parents over children who have been adopted, and the
push to rethink no-fault divorce law are only a few instances.
A great deal of the attention has been fueled by the suspicion that fam
ilies are "breaking down." The Right has been busy reaffirming "family
values" and seeing in the divorce rate (now holding steady at just under 50
percent) a threat to the foundation of society. In the psychotherapeutic
community, on the other hand, the suspicion has been that the "tradi
tional" family is dysfunctional, a view underscored of late by the contro
versy surrounding retrieved childhood memories of sexual abuse. The
health care system exacts from patients' families increasingly large sacri
fices of care and money at the same time as it also is inclined to suspect
families of abuse. The U.S. Senate became so concerned over increasing
reports of domestic violence that it held hearings on the topic in 1991. A
strong subtheme of the history of families-namely, that they are not to be
trusted-has once more become a major motif. There seems to be an
increasing dissatisfaction with contemporary familial arrangements, a
generalized feeling that things ought to change.
