The Discursive Construction of Contemporary Family Types: An Introduction

The traditional nuclear ideal of a cisgender, heterosexual mother and father giving birth to a child through the fulfilment of marital duties has been central to definitions of family and parenthood for centuries.This view relies on normative discourses that define families according to heteronormative and binary conventions of marriage and procreation. In the last sixty years, social norms and expectations around partnership, family and child rearing have shiftedin many contexts, prompting a number of social, legal and political changes to family formations and practices. For example, in the UK the 2002 Adoption and Children Act meant that unmarried and same-sex couples could adopt children; since the 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, same-sex and unmarried couples (including those who conceived via donor conception and/or surrogacy) have been able to apply for a parental order, and the 2014 Marriage (same-sex couples) Act led to state recognition of same-sex marriage. These changes have contributed to a steady rise in single and same-sex family formations (ONS 2022). Likewise in the United States and Canada, there have been notable legal and societal shifts concerning adoption, same-sex relationships, and reproductive rights, though challenges persist in the navigation of differing state and provincial laws. In the United States, many states now allow unmarried and same-sex couples to adopt children, anda 2015 Supreme Court ruling legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Similarly, Canada legalized same-sex marriage in 2005, leading to more inclusive adoption policies in many provinces. In both the U.S. and Canada, assisted reproductive technologies are generally accessible to unmarried and same-sex couples, although specific regulations may differ by state or province.