Mommy Queerest

Mommy Queerest focuses on the historical and contemporary meanings of lesbian motherhood in three cultural domains: the mass media, the U.S. legal system, and recent scholarship ih feminist psychology. Thompson argues that a rhetoric of ambivalence has pervaded the discourse on this subject. Looking closely at the period from 1970 to 2000, she examines articles published in mainstream newspapers such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times and in periodicals such as Time, Newsweek, and Parents. She also scrutinizes such alternative publications as Gay Community News, Lesbian Connection, and Lavender Woman. Whereas the mainstream press has tended to characterize lesbian mothers either as "unreal" or as an imminent threat to the family, the lesbian press has portrayed them alternately as the vanguard of radical feminism or as the ultimate betrayal of the lesbian nation.

Julie M. Thompson is assistant professor of communication at Southwestern University.