Rollins - Legally straight: sexuality, childhood, and the cultural value of marriage

Critical America

General Editors: RICHARD DELGADO and JEAN STEFANCIC

Recent titles in the Critical America series include:

The First Amendment in Cross-Cultural Perspective: A Comparative Legal Analysis of the Freedom of Speech

Ronald J. Krotoszynski Jr.

Feminist Legal Theory: A Primer

Nancy Levit and Robert R. M. Verchick

The Emergence of Mexican America: Recovering Stories of Mexican Peoplehood in U.S. Culture

John-Michael Rivera

Law and Class in America: Trends since the Cold War

Edited by Paul D. Carrington and Trina Jones

The Sense of Justice: Empathy in Law and Punishment

Markus Dirk Dubber

No Seat at the Table: How Corporate Governance and Law Keep Women Out of the Boardroom

Douglas M. Branson

White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race, Revised Edition

Ian Haney Lpez

Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink Its Borders and Immigration Laws

Kevin R. Johnson

The Reproductive Rights Reader: Law, Medicine, and the Construction of Motherhood

Edited by Nancy Ehrenreich

Chicano Students and the Courts: The Mexican American Legal Struggle for Educational Equality

Richard R. Valencia

Whitewashed: Americas Invisible Middle Eastern Minority

John Tehranian

Laws Detour: Justice Displaced in the Bush Administration

Peter Margulies

Citizenship and Its Exclusions: A Classical, Constitutional, and Critical Race Critique

Ediberto Romn

Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, Second Edition

Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic

Meeting the Enemy: American Exceptionalism and International Law

Natsu Taylor Saito

Getting in the Game: Title IX and the Womens Sports Revolution

Deborah L. Brake

Legally Straight: Sexuality, Childhood, and the Cultural Value of Marriage

Joe Rollins

For a complete list of titles in the series, please visit the New York University Press website at www.nyupress.org.

Joe Rollins

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

New York

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

New York

www.nyupress.org

2018 by New York University

All rights reserved

References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.

ISBN : 978-0-8147-7598-1

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For better or for worse, this book has been a long time in the making, and I owe many people many thanks for supporting the project along the way. It started during a sabbatical year at the Center for the Study of Law and Society at the University of California, Berkeley, and was supported in part by a grant from the Wayne F. Placek Fund of the American Psychological Association. I am very grateful to the many people at Berkeley who encouraged me to begin the project, particularly Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, who introduced me to Debbie Gershenowitz, then at NYU Press. Their influence was inspirational. While in Berkeley I had the good fortune to meet Susan Bandes, who has not only influenced my conceptions of law and culture but also offered me the opportunity to present my very early thoughts about the marriage project at DePaul University. Kimberly Richman provided a similar forum at the University of San Francisco. Peter Hegarty at the University of Surrey in Guildford, United Kingdom, was a most gracious host during a second sabbatical at which time the book finally began to take shape. Clara Platter and Amy Klopfenstein at NYU Press have been models of patience, good humor, efficiency, and editorial skill. I am indebted to all.

I have also been fortunate to enjoy the support of my home institution, the City University of New York, Queens College and the Graduate Center. Chase Robinson, Louise Lennihan, and Patricia Rachal have generously provided me with the time and resources necessary to write despite the need to juggle other responsibilities. Many colleagues and friends at CUNY have offered insight and encouragement throughout, especially Christa Altenstetter, Patricia Clough, Mara Einstein, Ziva Flamhaft, Amy Herzog, Judith Kimmerling, Ros Petchesky, Joan Tronto, and Susan Woodward. Lenny Markovitz told me on more than a few occasions to finish that damn book, already, and I thank him for both his faith in me and his insistence. Andrew Hacker is as remarkable and prolific an editor as he is a writer. I also owe deep thanks to friends and colleagues from other locations. Ann Burlein deserves immense gratitude not only for reading but for patiently listening to me think this book aloud over dinners, paintbrushes, international flights, and a bubbling cauldron. Jackie Orrs commentary is unusually incisive when she is winning at canasta. Victoria Pitts-Taylor: I couldnt have done this without you, love. Arturo Sanchez Garcia is a skilled theoretical interlocutor even in the most haunting situations. Bronwyn Stafford read the entire manuscript more than once, and aside from granting her some sort of perseverance award, I cannot thank her enough for the brilliant adjustments that only an Australian feminist could have offered. Two anonymous reviewers for NYU Press went above and beyond the call of editorial duty; I am very glad to have had their wise and generous counsel as the project neared completion.

Various pieces of this book have received valuable feedback from panelists and audiences at conferences over the years, especially those at the Law and Society Meetings; the meetings of the International Association for the Study of Society, Culture, and Sexuality; the Cultural Studies Association meetings; and the International Academic Forum. Bits and pieces of my thinking from this book have been developed and published elsewhere, in Politics & Gender and Sexuality & Culture.

Teaching is, without a doubt, my favorite part of what I do for a living, and I have been exceptionally fortunate to read, teach, and think with some very talented students. Taylor Owen Ramsey proved invaluable as a research assistant, and her keen insights in my courses helped sharpen my arguments along the way. She, along with Flannery Amdahl, Jeff Broxmeyer, and Joanna Tice, was brave enough to sign up for my course Sexuality, Childhood, and Film; these students influence in that setting has improved this book.

No book, of course, is ever completed without the love and support of friends and family. My sister, Sami Rollins, and my niece and nephew, Stephanie and Aaron Ellison, have provided me with the caring foundation I needed to persevere. Jeff Faustmans steadfast patience and sound advice in all matters buoyed my optimism most Fridays at 6:00 p.m. Juan Martinez provided laughter and the worlds greatest meatloaf whenever the going got tough. Michael de Coca and Jimmy Shaw welcomed me to Madrid and made it my second home and the writing sanctuary where I finally found the space and peace to finish the manuscript. (Muchas gracias, tambien, a mis amigos a Pan Ador! en Madrid por los desayunos en los ultimos momentos de escribir.) My husband, Giovanni Quinche, showed up just when I needed him most, making me smile, teaching me to be gracious, and opening up new possibilities for a future I wasnt expecting. Across time and distance, there is always Christine Kaufman, who has taught me more about friendship and feminism than anyone I know.