Queer Parents: Family Structures in Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab and The Argonauts Hannah J. Anain College

An old Chinese proverb states that, “A family in harmony will prosper in everything.” In the 21st century, harmony looks different in every household––especially queer households, which are not always conducive to the harmony of heteronormative family structures. In her essay “With friends like these: The liberalization of queer family policy, ” Angelia Ruth Wilson claims that in non-heterosexual relationships, “Individual choice becomes the indispensable conduit to intimacy: ‘Individual autonomy is about identity and space, but it is also about intimate involvement. Through that you can become free” (58). This statement summarizes Wilson’s claim that queer relationships free families from the heterosexist normativity that typically shapes family dynamics, since queer parents have the freedom to choose how they structure their families and raise their children. This individual choice appears in Shani Mootoo’s Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab when India chooses to let Sydney care for her son, as well as in Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts when Nelson chooses to be the primary caretaker of both Harry’s biological son and her own: both of these choices reject traditional family structures and therefore challenge heteronormativity,...