‘WE ARE FAMILY’: THE REGULATION OF ‘FEMALE-ONLY’ REPRODUCTION

In this article I seek to examine the ways in which gay and lesbian struggles are shaped by their political and national context. I have analyzed the public debate concerning assisted insemination in relation to same-sex parenting and single mothers in Denmark as it took place during the years 1997–2002, and, as such, this article offers a reading of sexual politics in a country which is often portrayed as one of the most liberal ones when it comes to gay and lesbian rights. I further show the way in which the rights agenda can prove problematic and limited, in relation to issues of family and parenting. Thus I point to the inherent problems of a universalized conception of gay and lesbian struggles and find it pertinent to consider how organizing frame-works such as gender, sexuality and nationality determine the site of resistance and the articulation of what can be deemed political