Families We Choose

This classic text, originally published in 1991 and now revised and updated to include a new preface, draws upon fieldwork and interviews to explore the ways gay men and lesbians are constructing their own notions of kinship by drawing on the symbolism of love, friendship, and biology.

Winner of Ruth Benedict Prize in Anthropology 1990

“"Weighs in as an important contribution to current debates about family and family values." -- American Journal of Sociology”

Graceful... Valuable for the ways it demonstrates that, like race, gender and sexual identity, the meaning of kinship is culturally relative--and susceptible to change. The Women's Review of Books The first to analyze the historical conditions, social meaning, and political implications of lesbians and gays' appropriating the language of kinship...A fine book. Contemporary Sociology Represents a new direction in lesbian and gay studies and in the anthropology of American culture. SIGNS: Journal of Women in Culture and Society This book demands--and deserves--thorough and careful reading...A well-documented work for gay studies collections. Library Journal Weighs in as an important contribution to current debates about family and family values. American Journal of Sociology

Kath Weston is associate professor of anthropology at Arizona State University West in Phoenix.

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