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X-Posted from LJ's Writer's Block.
Dec. 9th, 2009 12:41 pmDo you think society puts too much pressure on people to be in relationships and/or have children? Do you think this ostracizes people who would be perfectly content to remain single and/or child-free? Is this pressure worse around the holidays?
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Society functions on the basis that social pressure and the conformity it ellicits in ordinary citizens will perpetuate society through reproductive endeavour.
The pressure of conformity is greatest for members of society to form heteronormative relationships, but increasingly, as queer relationships become recognised by the institutions of mainstream powerm queer persons begin to experience the normalising pressures of a reproductively obsessed society. The figure of the Child - the ideological focus of heteronormative society, an idea made real through the romanticising of childhood and restructuring society around protecting the perceived innocence of children - both opens the possibility of inclusion for queer couples who are willing to adopt or conceive children, whilst simultaneously restricting them to the future crafted by hetero-patriarchy at the establishment of modern society.
Society will accept the reproductive contribution of homosexual couples but only on the condition they sacrifice their ideological input on the future/their shaping of the Child's world view. In effect, the moment non-heteronormative persons decide to insert themselves into the reproductive economy that all heterosexual persons automatically live within, they experience the normalising pressures of hetero-patriarchy to a greater degree than queer persons who remain outside of the reproductive imperative.
The greatest challenge to society and for queer persons is to both reproduce and reject the fast track to acceptability that is offered to them in exchange for their conformity to pre-exisiting notions of futurity. Society can and will be intrinsically altered by queer persons who make themselves relevant to hetero-patriarchy by becoming parents but reject the insider power offered to them; instead choosing to forge their own notion of futurity by investing the [outsider] Child with decidedly queer aspirations and ambitions. This queer child offers an alternative future and one which can directly, and on an equal footing, engage with the heteronormative Child.
Challenging hetero-patriarchy on it's own terms; through relationships, the model of the family, and, importantly, the drive to reproductive creativity is the clearest way in which the previously future-defeating, non-reproductive figure of the queer can gain greater power within society.
From this quietly confrontational position, where the home and family are used to effect political and social change, we can begin to examine how non-reproductive relationships can establish an influential relationship with futurity. In my opinion, the current symbiotic relationship between reproduction and the future means that the very foundations of how we talk about and create an ideological notion of the future must be reimagined in order for those persons who choose not to reproduce to be allowed to contribute and shape the future. In short, the future must be disentangled from the figure of the Child - be that the queer Child or the heteronormative Child - and brought into the present by tying it much more firmly to concrete development of, or changes to, the dynamics of society rather than only attempting to create a future space in which children's ambitions are unlimited by tangible obstacles. Reimagining the Child through queer reproduction is the first step on the road to destabilising heteronormative futurity and opening the field for widespread discussion and reforms of what the key motivation for society should be.
View Answers
Society functions on the basis that social pressure and the conformity it ellicits in ordinary citizens will perpetuate society through reproductive endeavour.
The pressure of conformity is greatest for members of society to form heteronormative relationships, but increasingly, as queer relationships become recognised by the institutions of mainstream powerm queer persons begin to experience the normalising pressures of a reproductively obsessed society. The figure of the Child - the ideological focus of heteronormative society, an idea made real through the romanticising of childhood and restructuring society around protecting the perceived innocence of children - both opens the possibility of inclusion for queer couples who are willing to adopt or conceive children, whilst simultaneously restricting them to the future crafted by hetero-patriarchy at the establishment of modern society.
Society will accept the reproductive contribution of homosexual couples but only on the condition they sacrifice their ideological input on the future/their shaping of the Child's world view. In effect, the moment non-heteronormative persons decide to insert themselves into the reproductive economy that all heterosexual persons automatically live within, they experience the normalising pressures of hetero-patriarchy to a greater degree than queer persons who remain outside of the reproductive imperative.
The greatest challenge to society and for queer persons is to both reproduce and reject the fast track to acceptability that is offered to them in exchange for their conformity to pre-exisiting notions of futurity. Society can and will be intrinsically altered by queer persons who make themselves relevant to hetero-patriarchy by becoming parents but reject the insider power offered to them; instead choosing to forge their own notion of futurity by investing the [outsider] Child with decidedly queer aspirations and ambitions. This queer child offers an alternative future and one which can directly, and on an equal footing, engage with the heteronormative Child.
Challenging hetero-patriarchy on it's own terms; through relationships, the model of the family, and, importantly, the drive to reproductive creativity is the clearest way in which the previously future-defeating, non-reproductive figure of the queer can gain greater power within society.
From this quietly confrontational position, where the home and family are used to effect political and social change, we can begin to examine how non-reproductive relationships can establish an influential relationship with futurity. In my opinion, the current symbiotic relationship between reproduction and the future means that the very foundations of how we talk about and create an ideological notion of the future must be reimagined in order for those persons who choose not to reproduce to be allowed to contribute and shape the future. In short, the future must be disentangled from the figure of the Child - be that the queer Child or the heteronormative Child - and brought into the present by tying it much more firmly to concrete development of, or changes to, the dynamics of society rather than only attempting to create a future space in which children's ambitions are unlimited by tangible obstacles. Reimagining the Child through queer reproduction is the first step on the road to destabilising heteronormative futurity and opening the field for widespread discussion and reforms of what the key motivation for society should be.
