god knows, or am I just insane?” (Jane). For lesbian participants, making sense of their relationship with pets had also been shaped by the lesbian cat lady” (Debbie) “mad “classic lesbian stereotype” (Jane), and indeed the notion that lesbians have not kids.’ Indeed, ‘cats three participants had one or more cats (one had a cat not out of choice the cat was left by a – former partner), one co-owned a dog and one wanted a dog. Pets were seen as of’ child ‘sort substitutes but our participants were as reluctant as the heterosexual women in the wider study to fully embrace that concept: If they did not completely dismiss it, they engaged with it in a humorous way as Jane did above. Rosa Marvin was very dismissive of the notion that pets are child substitutes and contrasted her desire for a dog with her lack of desire for a child; she wanted a dog precisely because it is a dog and not a child, and therefore not a child substitute. In general, pets were seen as easier than children (financially, emotionally, practically): responsibility but not nearly as much” (Jane). “some Louise shared a dog, and was very clear it was not dog, it was shared. We argue her that Louise’s dog sharing was indicative of a different way of thinking about and doing family and intimate relationships. For some participants, this approximated queer notions of of choice,’ kin-like networks of relationships based on friendship and commitments ‘families blood’ (Weeks et al., 2001) and a relational ethic of combining ‘beyond ‘co-independence,’ individual autonomy with strong reciprocity (egalitarian and democratic relationships) (Weeks et al., 2001). Their childfreedom was understood as part of this broader family ‘doing differently’ ethos. As Louise commented: have a slightly unusual family in that my brother’s gay as well, so my sisters are “I both heterosexual and have children, and my brother and his partner don’t have children, so we’ve got a normal family, but not one where everybody has children anyway, but I’ve experienced quite a lot of different forms of family during my life.”
god knows, or am I just insane?” (Jane). For lesbian participants, making sense of their relationship with pets had also been shaped by the “mad lesbian cat lady” (Debbie) “classic lesbian stereotype” (Jane), and indeed the notion that lesbians have ‘cats not kids.’ Indeed, three participants had one or more cats (one had a cat not out of choice – the cat was left by a former partner), one co-owned a dog and one wanted a dog. Pets were seen as ‘sort of’ child substitutes but our participants were as reluctant as the heterosexual women in the wider study to fully embrace that concept: If they did not completely dismiss it, they engaged with it in a humorous way as Jane did above. Rosa Marvin was very dismissive of the notion that pets are child substitutes and contrasted her desire for a dog with her lack of desire for a child; she wanted a dog precisely because it is a dog and not a child, and therefore not a child substitute. In general, pets were seen as easier than children (financially, emotionally, practically): “some responsibility but not nearly as much” (Jane). Louise shared a dog, and was very clear it was not her dog, it was shared. We argue that Louise’s dog sharing was indicative of a different way of thinking about and doing family and intimate relationships. For some participants, this approximated queer notions of ‘families of choice,’ kin-like networks of relationships based on friendship and commitments ‘beyond blood’ (Weeks et al., 2001) and a relational ethic of ‘co-independence,’ combining individual autonomy with strong reciprocity (egalitarian and democratic relationships) (Weeks et al., 2001). Their childfreedom was understood as part of this broader ‘doing family differently’ ethos. As Louise commented: “I have a slightly unusual family in that my brother’s gay as well, so my sisters are both heterosexual and have children, and my brother and his partner don’t have children, so we’ve got a normal family, but not one where everybody has children anyway, but I’ve experienced quite a lot of different forms of family during my life.”
Childfree%20lesbians%20Clarke%20et%20al%20UWE%20Repository%20Version.docx