Caramel and Queer

In her 1978 study of gender inequality, The Reproduction of Mothering, Nancy Chodorow wrote thoughtfully about gender politics and relations.  Her explanation of the  formation of gender consciousness and gender hierarchy were well-done and persuasive.  The explanation of the former, however, may be too facile to truly capture the complexity of the biological formation of a self as informed by society without some use of valid science (she writes about using psychoanalysis, a field which is now widely considered outdated). Her description of the structure of society is indisputable even 37 years later, and I agree with her assertion that these roles negatively affect men, women, and children.

Chodorow presents a basic understanding of gender roles as they apply to heterosexuals. I am curious, however, about how her analysis would explain homosexual or otherwise queer roles (an "Other" so extreme that it is rarely acknowledged in our class room discussions of privilege). She clearly seems to be aware of the topic, qualifying many of her ideas by using the word heterosexual (even when writing about marriage in the 1970s).  Despite an increasing awareness of gender-fluidity and an increasing number of "non-traditional" families, gender roles are surprisingly rigid in most other areas of society.  Because queer communities often escape these roles, I think an analysis of queer people's formative years and life-styles would lead to an interesting insight into the possible future of gender politics.  As Ilana says in the fourth episode of Broad City, "we're headed toward an age where everybody's gonna be, like, caramel and queer."