Resisting Heteroarchy in the United States: Queer Women’s Attitudes Toward Marriage

Although same-sex couples have had access to legal marriage since 2015, the current literature does not ask young adults who identify as part of the LGBTQ community about their desire to be married. Using interviews with 36 women who self-identified as queer, I find that they are more likely to desi...

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Main Author: Sarah Adeyinka-Skold
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-04-01
Series:Social Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/4/228
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author Sarah Adeyinka-Skold
author_facet Sarah Adeyinka-Skold
author_sort Sarah Adeyinka-Skold
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description Although same-sex couples have had access to legal marriage since 2015, the current literature does not ask young adults who identify as part of the LGBTQ community about their desire to be married. Using interviews with 36 women who self-identified as queer, I find that they are more likely to desire marriage. However, an important segment is also ambivalent about legal marriage. I also find that women who want to be married are more likely to highlight the benefits of marriage, including the opportunity to resist heteronormative beliefs and practices in their marital relationships. Women who reject or are ambivalent about marriage are more likely to highlight the drawbacks of the institution. I argue that both groups of women use their emphasis on the benefits or drawbacks of marriage to resist heteroarchy and other intersecting oppressions they still face despite the legalization of same-sex marriage, without compromising their identity as queer.
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spelling doaj-art-c79db080a15541eca7b297d6c2acf1802025-08-20T03:13:49ZengMDPI AGSocial Sciences2076-07602025-04-0114422810.3390/socsci14040228Resisting Heteroarchy in the United States: Queer Women’s Attitudes Toward MarriageSarah Adeyinka-Skold0Department of Sociology, Loyola Marymount University, 1 LMU Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90045, USAAlthough same-sex couples have had access to legal marriage since 2015, the current literature does not ask young adults who identify as part of the LGBTQ community about their desire to be married. Using interviews with 36 women who self-identified as queer, I find that they are more likely to desire marriage. However, an important segment is also ambivalent about legal marriage. I also find that women who want to be married are more likely to highlight the benefits of marriage, including the opportunity to resist heteronormative beliefs and practices in their marital relationships. Women who reject or are ambivalent about marriage are more likely to highlight the drawbacks of the institution. I argue that both groups of women use their emphasis on the benefits or drawbacks of marriage to resist heteroarchy and other intersecting oppressions they still face despite the legalization of same-sex marriage, without compromising their identity as queer.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/4/228LGBTQ+ marriagesexualityqueerrelationship formationsexualityqueer
spellingShingle Sarah Adeyinka-Skold
Resisting Heteroarchy in the United States: Queer Women’s Attitudes Toward Marriage
Social Sciences
LGBTQ+ marriage
sexuality
queer
relationship formation
sexuality
queer
title Resisting Heteroarchy in the United States: Queer Women’s Attitudes Toward Marriage
title_full Resisting Heteroarchy in the United States: Queer Women’s Attitudes Toward Marriage
title_fullStr Resisting Heteroarchy in the United States: Queer Women’s Attitudes Toward Marriage
title_full_unstemmed Resisting Heteroarchy in the United States: Queer Women’s Attitudes Toward Marriage
title_short Resisting Heteroarchy in the United States: Queer Women’s Attitudes Toward Marriage
title_sort resisting heteroarchy in the united states queer women s attitudes toward marriage
topic LGBTQ+ marriage
sexuality
queer
relationship formation
sexuality
queer
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/4/228
work_keys_str_mv AT sarahadeyinkaskold resistingheteroarchyintheunitedstatesqueerwomensattitudestowardmarriage