QUEER PARENTHOOD ACROSS TEMPORAL AND SOCIAL LINES; An anthropological study on queer individuals experiences of parenthood in Swedish society

Abstract

This study aims to examine the everyday experience of queer parenthood, relating to aspects of gender and sexuality, family relations, and social norms in Swedish society. The study reveals that being a queer parent in contemporary Swedish society means being in an ambivalent position where factors of time and space, as well as gender identity and expression proves to be a leading force in how the parents practice parenthood and whether the political aspect of queerness comes to be consciously or unconsciously expressed within parenthood. The term queer is central in this study, as it is used to refer to non cis and heterosexual identities, movements and practices. Therefore the study has been framed by a queer theoretical perspective with a focus on norms and anomaly relating to sexuality and gender, temporality, and the construction of kinship. The empirical data were conducted in a two month fieldwork that took place in Västra Götaland, Sweden, with semi-structured interviews as the bearing method.