Synopses & Reviews
Violence against lesbians and gay men has increasingly captured media and scholarly attention. But these reports tend to focus on one segment of the LGBT communityandmdash;white, middle class menandmdash;and largely ignore that part of the community that arguably suffers a larger share of the violenceandmdash;racial minorities, the poor, and women. Inand#160;
Violence against Queer People, sociologist Doug Meyer offers the first investigation of anti-queer violence that focuses on the role played by race, class, and gender.
and#160;
Drawing on interviews with forty-seven victims of violence, Meyer shows that LGBT people encounter significantly different forms of violenceandmdash;and perceive that violence quite differentlyandmdash;based on their race, class, and gender.and#160; His research highlights the extent to which other forms of discriminationandmdash;including racism and sexismandmdash;shape LGBT peopleandrsquo;s experience of abuse.and#160;He reports, for instance, that lesbian and transgender women often described violent incidents in which a sexual or a misogynistic component was introduced, and that LGBT people of color sometimes werenandrsquo;t sure if anti-queer violence was based solely on their sexuality or whether racism or sexism had also played a role. Meyer observes that given the many differences in how anti-queer violence is experienced, the present media focus on white, middle-class victims greatly oversimplifies and distorts the nature of anti-queer violence. In fact, attempts to reduce anti-queer violence that ignore race, class, and gender run the risk of helping only the most privileged gay subjects.
Many feel that the struggle for gay rights has largely been accomplished and the tide of history has swung in favor of LGBT equality. Violence against Queer People, on the contrary, argues that the lives of many LGBT peopleandmdash;particularly the most vulnerableandmdash;have improved very little, if at all, over the past thirty years.
and#160;
Review
andquot;Queering Marriage is a careful, fair, and compelling analysis of how same-sex couples navigate the multiple and often conflicting meanings of marriage; impressive, tidy, and accessible, it will also appeal to an audience unfamiliar with sociology.andquot;
Review
"A smart, sensitive account of what marriage meant to, and did for, San Francisco’s 'Winter of Love' participants, Queering Marriage demonstrates how same-sex marriages subvert heteronormativity even as they shore it up." Jaye Cee Whitehead - author of The Nuptial Deal: Same-Sex Marriage and Neo-Liberal Governance
Review
andquot;Queering Marriageand#160;is remarkable for its highly thoughtful insights into the real meaning of same-sex marriage. By telling the compelling stories of same-sex couples who participated in marriage ceremonies that played a powerful role in the movement toward marriage equality, sociologist Katrina Kimport brilliantly adjudicates competing contemporary views regarding the influence of same-sex marriage on both 'traditional marriage' and the gay and lesbian community. This beautifully written book is a must-read for any serious scholar of family, gender, sexuality, and social movements.andquot;
Review
andquot;This very interesting, informative, and well-written book presents many fascinating interviews, and provides a window on one of the most contested subjects in the U.S. today. Essential.andquot;
Review
andquot;A smart, sensitive account of what marriage meant to, and did for, San Franciscoandrsquo;s 'Winter of Love' participants,and#160;Queering Marriageand#160;demonstrates how same-sex marriages subvert heteronormativity even as they shore it up.andquot;
Review
andquot;Doug Meyerandrsquo;s Violence against Queer People demonstrates the importance of studying violence against LGBT people who are also racial minorities, women, and/or working class. The book remainsand#160;extremely accessible as it tackles important theoretical frameworks of race, class, gender, and sexuality.andquot;
Review
andquot;Doug Meyer gives us intersectionalityandmdash;with a punch. Somewhere there are rainbow wedding cakes and happy new familiesandmdash;but all is not yet right in America. For people without race privilege, queer remains dangerous territory.andquot;
Review
andquot;Queering Marriage contributes to the gay marriage debate by showcasing the power of empirical research to offer answers to assimilation versus social change arguments. An incisive story about the power of heteronormativity to validate or invalidate, legitimate or delegitimize, samesex relationships.andquot;
Review
andquot;Queering Marriage provides a compelling look into experiences of same-sex couples who married during San Franciscoandrsquo;s Winter of Love. Kimport skillfully weaves history, theory, and lived experiences to present a thoughtful analysis that attends to the complexities of same-sex marriage as both a social and political issue. It is a recommended read for anyone interested in the politics of same-sex marriage activism and practice in the United States.andquot;
Review
andquot;Queering Marriage shares stories about the impact of marriage on men and women who, though often cognizant of the transitory legality of their marriages, testified to the ways that it changed their lives. Kimport masterfully analyzes the meanings of marriage to these women and men as a way to gauge its transformative potential.andquot;
Review
andquot;This well-written and thoughtful book provides a unique window into the experiences of same-sex Americans married in this remarkable moment. The joy and love the participants felt at the time is palpable in Kimportandrsquo;s quotes, and she does a masterful job of weaving in descriptors of the respondents and their experiences and opinions into her analysis.andquot;
Synopsis
In-depth interviews with participants in non-traditional families are used to argue that same-sex marriage cannot be understood as simply entrenching or contesting heterosexual privilege. Instead, Katrina Kimport contends that these new legally sanctioned relationships can both reinforce as well as disrupt the association of marriage and heterosexuality. She provides a nuanced, accessible, and theoretically grounded framework for understanding the powerful effect of heterosexual expectations on both sexual and social categories.
Synopsis
Over four thousand gay and lesbian couples married in the city of San Francisco in 2004. The first large-scale occurrence of legal same-sex marriage, these unions galvanized a movement and reignited the debate about whether same-sex marriage, as some hope, challenges heterosexual privilege or, as others fear, preserves that privilege by assimilating queer couples.
In Queering Marriage, Katrina Kimport uses in-depth interviews with participants in the San Francisco weddings to argue that same-sex marriage cannot be understood as simply entrenching or contesting heterosexual privilege. Instead, she contends, these new legally sanctioned relationships can both reinforce as well as disrupt the association of marriage and heterosexuality.
During her deeply personal conversations with same-sex spouses, Kimport learned that the majority of respondents did characterize their marriages as an opportunity to contest heterosexual privilege. Yet, in a seeming contradiction, nearly as many also cited their desire for access to the normative benefits of matrimony, including social recognition and legal rights. Kimport's research revealed that the pattern of ascribing meaning to marriage varied by parenthood status and, in turn, by gender. Lesbian parents were more likely to embrace normative meanings for their unions; those who are not parents were more likely to define their relationships as attempts to contest dominant understandings of marriage.
By posing the question--can queers "queer" marriage?--Kimport provides a nuanced, accessible, and theoretically grounded framework for understanding the powerful effect of heterosexual expectations on both sexual and social categories.
Synopsis
Co-Winner of the 2015 Charles Tilly Award for Best Book of the Collective Behavior and Social Movements section from the American Sociological Association
Over four thousand gay and lesbian couples married in the city of San Francisco in 2004. The first large-scale occurrence of legal same-sex marriage, these unions galvanized a movement and reignited the debate about whether same-sex marriage, as some hope, challenges heterosexual privilege or, as others fear, preserves that privilege by assimilating queer couples.
In Queering Marriage, Katrina Kimport uses in-depth interviews with participants in the San Francisco weddings to argue that same-sex marriage cannot be understood as simply entrenching or contesting heterosexual privilege. Instead, she contends, these new legally sanctioned relationships can both reinforce as well as disrupt the association of marriage and heterosexuality.
During her deeply personal conversations with same-sex spouses, Kimport learned that the majority of respondents did characterize their marriages as an opportunity to contest heterosexual privilege. Yet, in a seeming contradiction, nearly as many also cited their desire for access to the normative benefits of matrimony, including social recognition and legal rights. Kimport's research revealed that the pattern of ascribing meaning to marriage varied by parenthood status and, in turn, by gender. Lesbian parents were more likely to embrace normative meanings for their unions; those who are not parents were more likely to define their relationships as attempts to contest dominant understandings of marriage.
By posing the question-can queers "queer" marriage?-Kimport provides a nuanced, accessible, and theoretically grounded framework for understanding the powerful effect of heterosexual expectations on both sexual and social categories.
Synopsis
Sociologist Doug Meyer offers the first investigation of anti-queer violence that highlights the role played by race, class, and gender. Drawing on interviews with forty-seven victims of violence, Meyer shows that LGBT people encounter significantly different forms of violenceandmdash;and perceive that violence quite differentlyandmdash;based on their race, class, and gender. Attempts to reduce anti-queer violence that ignore these three factors run the risk of helping only the most privileged gay subjects. and#160;
About the Author
KATRINA KIMPORT is an assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco. She is the coauthor of Digitally Enabled Social Change.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
1. The Winter of Love
2. Marrying for the Movement
3. Marrying for Rights
4. Marrying for Love
5. Gender and Parenthood
6. The Persistent Power of Marriage
7. Exposing Heteronormativity
8. Conclusion
Methodological Appendix
Notes
References
Index