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Feminist and Queer Legal Theory Toward Family Abolition

Family abolition is the spectre which lurks at the margins of progressive and radical feminist and queer legal theory. Both of these theoretical schools call into question the naturalised and uncritical acceptance of the conjugal, nuclear, marriage-bound family as the protagonist of family law’s regulatory and distributive functions. Instead, feminist and queer legal theorists argue that the laws governing family life should be focused on something else: caring for others, independent of the kind of relationship which exists between two (or more) parties. I argue that wrapped up in this critical reorientation project is a materialist understanding of the conditions which are needed, in practice, for people to have fulfilling, joyful and dignified family lives. Using a case study of income support social assistance and spousal support, this presentation outlines the proto-family-abolitionism of feminist and queer legal theories and suggests further opportunities for conversations between these theories and a different, rich scholarship on family abolition.

► this event is hybrid. Join in person at the Centre for Ethics (Larkin building, room 200) or online here.

Yukiko Kobayashi Lui
Graduate Fellow                                                          University of Toronto

Wed, Feb 7, 2024
12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
200 Larkin