Diversity in Family Life. Gender, Relationships and Social Change

As new forms of family and 'non-traditional' families grow in number, there is a need for understanding of these "new" arrangements and models of parenthood. This book discusses, using a comparative and a sociological perspective, examples of the relationship between changing gender identities and processes of family formation in the Western experience: including asexual couples; childfree women and men; living apart together (LAT) couples; lone mothers and fathers; homosexual and trans parents. The book aims to show that, in the 21st century, it is possible to live, love, form a family without sex, without children, without a shared home, without a partner, without a working husband, without a heterosexual orientation or without a "biological" sexual body. This book also discusses the political implications-in terms of social movements characteristics and demands-of these emerging dimensions of family life. Such changes are likely to be of interest for a wide range of educational and policy areas which impact on families, women, men, and children and the book will therefore be of interest to a wide readership. Contents: Asexual men and women: living without sex; Childfree women and men: living without children; Couples together yet apart (I love you but do not want to live with you); Househusbands: Stay-at-home dads; Lone mothers and lone fathers; Homosexual and trans parents; Conclusions.