Queer Conception

“[A] a well-researched, deeply comprehensive (and readable!) guide to building a queer family in a way that works for you.” —Emily Oster, author of Expecting Better This groundbreaking, up-to-date fertility guide from trusted queer and trans midwife Kristin Liam Kali is perfect for every queer family seeking pregnancy. It’s also the first evidence-based, transgender inclusive, and body-positive fertility resource for our community. Here, queer prospective parents will find sound advice about every step of the baby-making process: · Creating a timeline · Fertile health for every body · Preconception tests · Identifying ovulation · Sperm donors, egg donors, gamete banks, and surrogacy · Methods of insemination including IUI, IVF, and reciprocal IVF · Miscarriage and infertility · Navigating early pregnancy and preparing for infant feeding, including lactation induction for trans women and other nongestational parents This book is for all LGBTQ+ readers interested in creating family through pregnancy: anyone who identifies as queer, lesbians, gay men, bisexual people, trans and nonbinary people, couples, single parents by choice, poly families, and coparents. It’s an antidote to a culture and medical system that all too often centers heterosexual couples experiencing infertility while overlooking our unique needs. Also contains sidebars with guidance for reproductive healthcare professionals. “This life-changing book is equal parts practical handbook and sensitively written resource. Highly recommended!” —Toni Weschler, MPH, author of Taking Charge of Your Fertility

An in-depth study of lesbian, bi, and queer women's experiences of thinking about and trying to become a parent, Beyond Expectation draws on eighty-two narrative interviews conducted during the late 1990s in British Columbia. Jacquelyne Luce chronicles these women's experiences, which took place from 1980 to 2000, during a period that saw significant changes to the governance of assisted reproduction and the status of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parents and same-sex partners. Beyond Expectation looks closely at the changing contexts in which women's experiences occurred and draws attention to complex issues such as 'contracting' relationships, mediating understandings of biology and genetics, and decision-making amidst various social, legal, and medical developments. Luce skillfully juxtaposes the stories of her interviewees with the wider public discourses about lesbian/bi/queer parenting and reproductive technology and highlights gaps in existing legislative reforms. Most importantly, Beyond Expectation foregrounds the lived experiences of lesbian, bi, and queer women as they negotiate kinship at the intersection of reproduction, technology, and politics.

The first and only pregnancy journal created for queer individuals and families, by a queer doula. So... You're pregnant and a little (or a lot) queer? The prompts in this journal provide an opportunity for you to reflect on your pregnancy, conception story, and parenting intentions. It is intended for pregnant people to use with or without the involvement of their partner(s) (when applicable). Topics include - self-care, stress, fear, identity, boundary-setting, asking for help, navigating care providers, birth plans, and more!A portion of every sale goes towards the Love Over Fear Wellness and Birth Community Fund, which supports the work of midwives and doulas of color, and helps provide full-spectrum doula services to those in need at low-to-no-cost. This contribution also allows this resource to be made available for free to those that are unable to afford its cost. Learn more about Love Over Fear Wellness and Birth on our website, or by following @loveoverfearwellness on Instagram and Facebook.

The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians covers everything you need to make the thrilling and challenging journey to motherhood: from choosing a donor to tracking fertility to signing the right papers on the dotted lines. Rachel Pepper's lively, easy-to-read guide is the first place to go for up-to-date information and sage advice on everything from sex in the sixth month to negotiating family roles. Why a second edition? When the acclaimed first edition appeared, the author's daughter was only a few months old. This new edition takes into account the parenting know-how Pepper has developed over the intervening six years, as well as the evolving legal status of lesbian parents, and the increasing importance of the Internet for information on fertility, sperm banks, and donors. The resource section is greatly expanded, as are the sections on each trimester of pregnancy, on childbirth, and on life with a newborn. And Pepper provides more insight into preconception planning for both single lesbians and couples. An indispensable resource, The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians is now bigger and better.

There's no straightforward path to LGBTQ2 parenthood and just as every queer person has their own coming out story, every LGBTQ2 family has a unique conception or adoption story. In Swelling with Pride: Queer Conception and Adoption Stories, creative non-fiction writers celebrate LGBTQ2 families and the myriad of ways we embark upon our parenting journeys. These honest, heartfelt, unabashedly queer stories cover a gamut of issues and experiences, including the varied paths to queer conception--from DIY methods at home with the so-called "turkey baster" to pricey medical interventions at the fertility clinic--and the daunting task of choosing a sperm donor. This groundbreaking anthology portrays the journeys to LGBTQ2 parenthood that start or end with adoption and the countless hurdles that go along with it: from surviving the home study process and dealing with systemic homophobia to transitioning an adopted child into a new home. There are tales of shared nursing, blended families, communal parenting and non-binary pregnancy. There are also stories of grief, all too often suffered in silence, such as coping with infertility, pregnancy loss, stillbirth and adoption breakdown. These are the journeys of the early mavericks that formed families under the radar when fertility clinics were not open to singles and lesbians, as well as the Gen X and Millennial queers who've become parents during the current "gayby" boom. Editor and proud queer mom Sara Graefe has assembled more than twenty-five creative non-fiction LGBTQ2 authors from across North America, both well-known and up-and-coming, including Andrea Bennett, Marusya Bociurkiw, Jane Byers, Susan G. Cole, Caitlin Crawshaw, Rachel Epstein, Terrie Hamazaki, Nicola Harwood, Natalie Meisner and many more. Together, their candid, moving, thought-provoking stories celebrate what it is to be queer and give voice to both the challenges and joys of building a LGBTQ2 family in a predominantly straight, cis-gendered world.

DIVExamines the medical, social, and legal dimensions of the use of assisted reproductive technologies by lesbian women./div

Warped: Gay Normality and Queer Anti-Capitalism shows how the successive 'same-sex formations' of the past century and a half have led to both gay 'normality' and queer resistance. It sees sexual rebellions and queer social justice struggles as harbingers of a queer anti-capitalism.

Queer and Subjugated Knowledges: generating subversive Imaginaries makes an invaluable contribution to gender and sexuality studies, engaging with queer theory to reconceptualize everyday interactions. The scholars in this book respond to J. Halberstam's call to engage in alternative imaginings to reconceptualize forms of being, the production of knowledge, and envisage a world with different sites for justice and injustice. The recent work of cultural theorist, Judith Halberstam, makes new investments in the notion of the counter-hegemonic, the subversive and the alternative. For Halberstam.