Negotiating normativities of gender, sexuality and the family in gay parents’ small stories

Abstract

This article considers how two gay male parents negotiate normative discourses of gender, sexuality and the family in an interview context. Employing a three-level framework for exploring narratives-in-interaction, the micro-linguistic analysis identifies and unravels two gay parents’ multiple layers of self- and other- positioning through their telling of ‘small stories’. The findings support insights from existing sociological and psychological research to some degree, showing how these parents’ liminal situation amidst multiple and intersecting normative discourses can lead to conflict as they work to position themselves as partners, parents, and gay men. However, the analysis also reveals new insights about the specific and nuanced forms such conflict can take, depending on individuals’ circumstances and experiences. The findings suggest that everyday encounters are important sites for the (re)constitution of such normative discourses, and that the small stories parents tell about these encounters can be important resources for making sense of their lives in relation to broader social norms and structures.