Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Follow the author
OK
Invisible Families: Gay Identities, Relationships, and Motherhood among Black Women First Edition
Purchase options and add-ons
- ISBN-109780520269514
- ISBN-13978-0520269514
- EditionFirst Edition
- PublisherUniversity of California Press
- Publication dateOctober 17, 2011
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions6 x 1 x 9 inches
- Print length318 pages
Products related to this item
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Invisible Families provides deep insight into the lives and experiences of black lesbians.” ― American Journal of Sociology
"A well written, respectful, richly rewarding account..." ― Women's Review of Books
“Mignon R. Moore has given Black and African-American lesbians a voice in her book. . . . Not only will this book give visibility and light to African-American lesbian families, but social sciences researchers will cite the construction, development, and conclusions from Moore’s study for years to come.” ― Lambda Literary
“An exceptional account of lesbian sexuality and family formation. . . . Invisible Families represents sociological research at its finest. It is a meticulous piece of scholarship that is well written and theoretically sophisticated. . . . This is clearly a groundbreaking book. . . . highly recommend . . . for scholars and nonscholars alike.” ― Gender & Society
"Scholars and students of race, class, gender, sexuality, [and] family . . . will benefit greatly from this comprehensive work." ― American Anthropologist
“Provides an exemplary model for future research. . . . Necessary reading for scholars and students interested in family studies, LGBT studies, and race-class-gender studies.” ― Association for Jewish Studies Review
From the Inside Flap
Invisible Families shakes up longstanding theoretical conceptualizations of racial identity, family formation, and motherhood, contesting basic assumptions about black families. Tightly conceptualized and highly engaging. Kerry Ann Rockquemore, author of Raising Biracial Children
From the Back Cover
“Invisible Families shakes up longstanding theoretical conceptualizations of racial identity, family formation, and motherhood, contesting basic assumptions about black families. Tightly conceptualized and highly engaging.” – Kerry Ann Rockquemore, author of Raising Biracial Children
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : 0520269519
- Publisher : University of California Press; First Edition (October 17, 2011)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 318 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780520269514
- ISBN-13 : 978-0520269514
- Item Weight : 1.2 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1 x 9 inches
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Mignon R. Moore, Ph.D. is a sociologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. She hails from New York, where she conducted the research for her first book. She enjoys reading, running outside, shopping, listening to gospel music and walking her two dogs. She and her partner Elaine Harley were married in New York City in March 2012. Together they host "Chocolate & Wine Upscale Events for Women," a monthly social gathering for women in Southern California.
Products related to this item
Customer reviews
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star5 star68%22%9%0%0%68%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star4 star68%22%9%0%0%22%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star3 star68%22%9%0%0%9%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star2 star68%22%9%0%0%0%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star1 star68%22%9%0%0%0%
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonTop reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2018This is a remarkable book that shines with affirmation and solid research.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2013Black lesbians are triple minorities and they may face things that white lesbians, Black gay men, or straight people of any race may not. In this study, the author posits that most studies of lesbian families focus on middle-class white lesbians and posits that maybe families of color may be different. Thus, she contrasts the subject families to straight couple-headed families and white lesbian-headed ones.
This book has a certain Afrocentricity that I like. For the most part, the lesbians here are Black women who love Black women and who intensely want their Black children to be active members in the Black community. There's no "post-racial" or "non-racial" nothing here. In fact, while the women here may question sexual orientation labels, they are resolute that they are Black and they are women. The thing is: the women studied here are New Yorkers. NYC has enough Black gay men and lesbians that they can afford to stick with their own. Black gay people who live in places where they may see no other face like their own in gay social circles might not relate to this.
I can almost put identity issues to the side to bring up one important feature of this book. THIS WAS A WEEEEELLL-FUNDED STUDY!!!! Plenty of studies of gay people are catch-as-catch-can. They use snowball techniques. The samples are never more than 20 or so. This interviewer spoke with about 60 subjects. She teaches on the West Coast, but has the funds to do work on the East Coast. She had graduate students assisting her, etc. Rarely do you see a study of gay people, maybe especially gay women, with this much financial backing for it! But please remember this is an academic book. I could not just hand this to lesbian everyday readers. I mean it's not as heavy and complicated as Judith Butler, but it's not a walk in the park like "This Bridge Called My Back" or "Sister Outsider." That's great in a way because this sociologist's study can stand up to any of her straight, white, male peers. It's written like many a sociology text, but some people never went to college and this may be a bit too high-level for them.
In lost of middle-class lesbian circles, heterogender couples are frowned upon. But let's face, in many a lesbian couple, one partner is markedly more feminine than the other. Although the term "butch-femme" rarely comes up, that dynamic is presented a lot. The author prefers the term "less feminine" over "butch." She also avoids dichotomies and uses a middle term "gender blender." Still, in this study of life that is real-world rather than utopic, interviewees admitted that if they liked one type of woman, they knew the only way to get with her was to have the opposite gender expression of hers. I flipped through the bibliography and may have seen selections from "The Persistent Desire: A Butch-Femme Reader" often. If you hate butch-femme, then this book won't be for your test. However, if you just love you some butch-femme, then here it is in droves.
In short, I liked this book. I would recommend for Black lesbians considering parenting, but you may have to be a college-level reader to understand it.
