GRSJ 326: Joslyn, Taylor, Emilie, Courtney Week 6 Discussion Questions A Place Called Home: A Queer Political Economy

of Mexican Immigrant Mens Family Experiences Lionel Cantu 1. Cantu recruited participants through friends, organizations and flyers, and then continued with a snowball sampling technique to recruit the rest of his participants. Is this an objective method of recruiting participants? What could he have done that would have made his study more inclusive or diverse?

2. Cantu mentions his exclusion of transgendered Mexican immigrant voices in his research on Mexican family experiences. How does this exclusion limit the scope of his study? What other themes do you think would have emerged had he included transgendered voices?

3. Cantu examines the relationship between sexuality and migratory processes. He argues that economic factors are not solely responsible. According to him, what other factors contribute to the international immigration and movement of queers and transgendered?

4. Cantu examines the lives of Mexican immigrant men who have sex with men (MSMs) under the conceptual framework of Queer Theory in which theorists argue that multiple sites of normalization exist through knowledge and power production. How do the experiences of Mexican immigrant MSMs in the family and home reinforce this tradition both in Mexico and in the US?

Opting Into Motherhood: Lesbians Blurring the Boundaries and Transforming the Meaning of Parenthood and Kinship Gillian A. Dunne 1. Dunne used a snowball technique to gather participants. How might this have affected the data that she gathered? Is there a different method you would have used? Why?

2. How did the data help to alter common perceptions of sperm donors and father figures of children with lesbian parents? What did you learn about these arrangements from the article?

GRSJ 326: Joslyn, Taylor, Emilie, Courtney

3. Dunne argues that the gendered experience is mediated by sexuality in a number of ways (p.13). In what ways does she argue that the gender dynamic of lesbian relationships is advantageous in regards to parenthood, specifically in the division of labor?

What Would You Do? Gay Parents Bashed Video What do you attribute to the differing reactions from the diner customers? Why do you think more people stood up for the lesbian couple than the gay couple?

Compare and Contrast 1. How does Dunnes use of exclusively white women undermine anti-racist feminism? How does Cantu make similar exclusions in his work?

2. Do you see a connection between the social bonds that the Mexican immigrant men created when entering the USA and the kinship that the lesbian parents created when finding a suitable donor for their child?

3. In Dunnes article, the lesbian couples interviewed lived their sexuality openly and were able to have families of their own. In contrast, the Mexican gay men approached by Cantu faced numerous difficulties linked with their sexuality. What do you think have been the main barriers inhibiting the Mexican men to enjoy similar advantages available to the British lesbians?

4. Both articles discuss the notions of a chosen family over a biological heteronuclear family, one that builds on kinship and close circles of friends. In what ways can you relate this to your personal experiences or your everyday life observations?