No Place Like Home Relationships and Family Life among Lesbians and Gay Men
by Christopher Carrington
University of Chicago Press, 1999
Cloth: 978-0-226-09485-4 | Paper: 978-0-226-09486-1 | Electronic: 978-0-226-09484-7
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226094847.001.0001
ABOUT THIS BOOKAUTHOR BIOGRAPHYTABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

In this rich, surprising portrait of the world of lesbian and gay relationships, Christopher Carrington unveils the complex and artful ways that gay people create and maintain both homes and "chosen" families for themselves.

"Carefully separating stereotype from reality, Carrington investigates family in the gay and lesbian community. Relying upon interviews and observation, the author analyzes the loves and routings of 52 diverse lesbian, gay, and bisexual couples in the Bay area. . . . [He] closes the work with a discussion of the raging same-sex marriage debate and posits an enlightened solution to this dilemma." —Library Journal

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Christopher Carrington is an assistant professor in sociology and the Program for Human Sexuality Studies at San Francisco State University.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Feeding Lesbigay Families

The Character of Feeding Work

Feeding Work and the Creation of Gender, Class, Ethnic, and Family Identities

2. Housework in Lesbigay Families

The Character of Housework

Managing and Envisioning Housework

Variations in Houswork among Lesbigay Households

Housework and the Social Production of Lesbigay Family

3. Kin Work among Lesbigay Families

Kith as Family

The Lesbigay Family Kin Keepers

Variations in Kin Work Patterns

Kin Work and the Creation of Family

The Character of Consumption Work

Variations in Consumption Work

Sustaining Lesbigay Families through Consumption Work

5. The Division of Domestic Labor in Lesbigay Families

The Egalitarian Myth

The Egalitarian Pattern

The Specialization Pattern

Pragmatic Choices and the Sense of Fairness

Conclusion: Domesticity and the Political Economy of Lesbigay Families

Family Aspirations

The Political Economy of Constructing Family

Now You See It, Now You Don't: Gender and Domesticity

Devalued and Invisible: Lesbigay Domesticity

Marriage and Lesbigay Domesticity: Who Will be Bound by the Ties That Bind?

What Do Lesbigay Families Need to Prosper?

Appendix A: Interview Guide

Appendix B: Sample Characteristics

Notes

References

Index