Making Gaybies: Queer Reproduction and Multiracial Feeling

Jaya Keaney's book "Making Gaybies" explores queer family making as a site of racialized intimacy, tracing the lived experiences of choice and constraint as families seek to craft likeness with their future children and tell stories of chosen family made through love. Queer family building often involves multiracial and multicultural encounters, as intending parents take part in the global fertility industry. Keaney highlights the confines of varied transnational reproductive markets and policies and the changing formations of race, gender, sexuality, and kinship.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 03 November 2023
Publisher: Duke University Press

In her groundbreaking work, "Making Gaybies," Jaya Keaney delves into the intricate realm of queer family making as a tapestry of racialized intimacy. Through in-depth interviews with diverse queer families in Australia, Keaney uncovers the profound experiences of choice and constraint that shape these families' journey toward creating likeness with their future children and weaving narratives of chosen family forged through love. Queer family building, characterized by its multiracial and multicultural dimensions, becomes a captivating exploration as intending parents actively engage with the global fertility industry. Keaney intricately follows the trajectory of queer family making, shedding light on the limitations and complexities of diverse transnational reproductive markets and policies. She also highlights the shifting formations of race, gender, sexuality, and kinship that intertwine within this realm. Keaney's work takes center stage as she unveils captivating stories, such as white gay men opting for Indian and Thai egg donors to visually differentiate their surrogate-born children from their own ethnic backgrounds or an Aboriginal lesbian and her white partner choosing a Cherokee donor from the United States to articulate a global Indigeneity. Through these narratives, Keaney underscores the profound entwinement of reproduction, race, and affect, emphasizing how reproduction fosters a queer multiracial imaginary of kinship. By centering her analysis on queer family making, Keaney offers a profound testament to the ways in which reproduction shapes our understanding of family, identity, and belonging. Her work serves as a catalyst for further exploration and dialogue, challenging us to reimagine the boundaries of kinship and embrace the rich tapestry of diversity within our families.

Weight: 364g
Dimension: 151 x 229 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781478025368