Daughters of Mothers

Abstract

Daughter of Mothers addresses the ways that young adult daughters of LGB mothers understand motherhood, both in the abstract and as a possibility for their own lives. Considering the current controversy regarding homosexuality and family life in the United States today, how do the young adult daughters of LGB mothers conceive of motherhood? What do they hope and expect for their own (potential) future motherhood? Through the accounts of three informants, as well as a review of relevant literature by David Schneider and other scholars, I explore the intersections of topics such as kinship, love, biology, and motherhood. By relying primarily on my informants' own words, I attend to their voices with an attention that academic literature has not afforded the children of LGB parents before now. More specifically, I examine my informants' relationships with each of their mothers, their perceptions of their families as a unit, and their mothers' roles as parents. I also consider my informants' thoughts and attitudes toward the possibility of being mothers themselves. Yielding many similarities, my informants' accounts answer questions and exemplify theories. Also identifying many differences among informants' accounts, though, this thesis aims to encourage further exploration.