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ABSTRACT
In Singapore, discrimination toward LGBT citizens has been reinforced through a monolithic notion of the traditional Asian family. This ethnography focuses on the lived experiences of 7 ethnic minority Malay Muslim “butch” individuals and their journey to parenthood. Drawing upon frameworks of intersectionality and piety, I explore how butches negotiate and reconcile their queer practices and desires as Muslim daughters around “coming out,” foster children with same-sex partners, being a biological parent and their perceptions of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART). Reproductive futures, enacted by Malay Muslim butches, disrupt yet reinforce the durability of “natural” life trajectories scripted through conventions of marriage, family and fatherhood that have, insofar, excluded them. Further, their experiences also offer alternatives to existing literature on same-sex families that tend to render other nonwhite and/or non-Western queer family practices invisible.
Acknowledgment
This research is the product of my doctoral dissertation under the mentorship of Evie Blackwood, to whom I owe a scholarly debt, as well as my dissertation committee members: Martin Manalansan, Laura Zanotti and Brian Kelly. Special thanks to Marylyn Tan for proofreading and language editing. Not forgetting the real authors—Yam, Jo, Shik, Rafi, Iman, Zai and Boi whose life stories are only mine to borrow. Research was made possible through the generous support from Purdue University through the Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship, PROMISE Award Research Grant, Graduate Summer Research Grant as well as the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society (IASSCS) Emerging Scholars International Research Fellowship Program.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.