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In Defense of Love and Same-Sex Parenting: Rhetorical Analysis of the Apologia from Children of Same-Sex Couples

Jefferson, Ashley Nicole
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1398947252

Abstract Details

2014, Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, Communication.
With the acceptance of same-sex marriage on the rise in American society and an increasing number of homosexual couples raising children, concerns regarding the effect these couples have on their children are also escalating. This study looks at a unique defense of same-sex couples as parents, from the children currently being raised by them. Including three prominent texts and seventeen different voices, an analysis was completed to understand what defense strategies children use as advocates for their parents' right to marriage and to be a family. The method of study included completing a genre criticism through close textual analysis of the texts. In particular, the genre of apologia was studied. The analysis was framed by queer theory in effort to detect how, if at all, the defenses of children from same-sex parented homes rejected heteronormativity and the binary of sexuality. The findings of this study included the use of three different strategies of apologia, which allowed the children to defend their parents in three ways: by normalizing their family life and showing their parents do positive things; by depicting their lives as different, but not abnormal; and by redefining family to be constructed by love, instead of the biological components of the people within.
Joseph Valenzano, Ph.D (Advisor)
Jonathan Peters, Ph.D (Committee Member)
Jonathan Hess, Ph.D (Committee Member)
102 p.
Communication; Gender Studies
homosexuality; same-sex parents; same-sex marriage; children in defense; families; apologia; genre criticism; queer theory; gender studies; LGBT rights

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Jefferson, A. N. (2014). In Defense of Love and Same-Sex Parenting: Rhetorical Analysis of the Apologia from Children of Same-Sex Couples [Master's thesis, University of Dayton]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1398947252

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Jefferson, Ashley. In Defense of Love and Same-Sex Parenting: Rhetorical Analysis of the Apologia from Children of Same-Sex Couples . 2014. University of Dayton, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1398947252.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Jefferson, Ashley. "In Defense of Love and Same-Sex Parenting: Rhetorical Analysis of the Apologia from Children of Same-Sex Couples ." Master's thesis, University of Dayton, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1398947252

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

dayton1398947252
3,989
© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Dayton and OhioLINK.