Families Beyond the Nuclear Ideal

For Better or Worse?

By: Daniela Cutas (Editor), Sarah Chan (Editor)

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eBook | 22 November 2012 | Edition Number 1

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This book examines, through a multi-disciplinary lens, the possibilities offered by relationships and family forms that challenge the nuclear family ideal, and some of the arguments that recommend or disqualify these as legitimate units in our societies. That children should be conceived naturally, born to and raised by their two young, heterosexual, married to each other, genetic parents; that this relationship between parents is also the ideal relationship between romantic or sexual partners; and that romance and sexual intimacy ought to be at the core of our closest personal relationships - all these elements converge towards the ideal of the nuclear family. The authors consider a range of relationship and family structures that depart from this ideal: polyamory and polygamy, single and polyparenting, parenting by gay and lesbian couples, as well as families created through current and prospective modes of assisted human reproduction such as surrogate motherhood, donor insemination, and reproductive cloning.

Industry Reviews

Families: Beyond the nuclear ideal discusses various 'alternative' family forms in Western societies...the coverage of the book is impressive - it encompasses families with more than two parents, families with children conceived through donor insemination and surrogacy, families with lesbian and single heterosexual mothers, polygamous and polyamorous families, and families that may emerge in the future as a result of human cloning...the publication will certainly be useful to those readers who would like to expand their 'everyday' understanding of 'non-traditional families by looking at what ethics, philosophy and law have to say about them. -- Robert Pralat BioNews Families: Beyond the Nuclear Ideal is a volume with many challenging ideas on the current ethical and legal grounds of family foundation and partnership. Although provocative to some, the thesis that current changes and variations in family structures, partly instigated by development in reproductive technologies, call for a reassessment of current legal and ethical thinking, stand. As such, it is a 'must read' for all those interested in the ethics, sociology and law of reproduction, parenting and child rearing. -- Kristien Hens, Maastricht University Ethical Perspectives 20130601