Perspectives on the Social Conditions of People Engaged in Same-Sex Relations

ISSN： 0803-8740

Source： NORA: Nordic Journal of Women's Studies, Vol.17, Iss.2, 2009-06, pp. : 104-119

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Abstract

This article outlines four leading approaches in contemporary gay/lesbian and queer studies in order to throw light on some current developments regarding the social organization of sexual and gender relations in Europe and North America. I define these as post-modern, structural phenomenological, critical liberal, and, finally, queer approaches. Besides scrutinizing some of their basic propositions and core concepts, the article critically enquires into the pertinence of the four approaches in terms of their potential to grasp developments in the Danish social conditions of people engaged in same-sex relations. The article focuses on developments that are related to the sphere of intimacy/family and the legal reforms characterizing this sphere. I argue that three of the approaches, in particular, the post-modern, the critical liberal, and the queer approaches, are relevant in the light of the actual social conditions of people engaged in same-sex relations. In embracing different and indeed countervailing developments, I suggest that these perspectives need all to be deployed to complement each other.