Abstract

In this chapter I explore interconnections and negotiating transgressions for lesbian parental couples, reinventions of their selves and negotiations of kinship and relational identities. The participants in my study, were drawn from across Scotland and England. They went through redefinition of themselves, their couple status and family identities and the identities of their children. Lesbian parental couples potentially disrupt normative heterosexual meanings of family and gender and could subvert the meaning of motherhood and gendered parental identities. Evidence from this study indicated that lesbian couples created joint parented family projects based on egalitarian ideals; however, other definers of identity caused contradictions and tensions. These included culture, disability, ethnicity, class, gender and religious background. Intersections of identities in their negotiated family presented potential sources of tension. The participants embarked upon a new form of motherhood and family, which (at the time of interviews) had no frame of reference in tradition or policy frameworks for parenting. The problems they faced were both cultural and structural. Findings revealed the complexity of intersections of identities in their negotiated families and also presented potential sources of tension for both mothers and co parents. This research included detailed accounts of their internal and external struggles to resolve their maternal and parental in relation to other aspects of self.