From an expert gender educator comes an authoritative examination of same-sex motherhood under a turbulent social and political reality.

For decades, lesbian mothers have been raising children in planned, fatherless families – under the scrutiny, prejudice, and even violence of their environment and their communities. As they move from a marginalized minority into the mainstream, and more and more gay women are openly establishing their unique identities as mothers and caregivers, it becomes vital to understand this transition—and reevaluate everything we thought about womanhood, motherhood, and society as a whole.

In her book, gender researcher and education expert Dr. Alona Peleg offers a rare insight into the lives of the first wave of same-sex mothers. Through powerful interviews and in-depth analysis of new data, Peleg outlines the core experience of lesbian motherhood and illuminates the challenges and difficulties of their unique family unit: from the heterosexual society’s demands for conformity as well as the self-depreciation of lesbian women, living under the constant burden of proving themselves as capable and worthy mothers.

Essential and authoritative, Peleg’s Lesbian Mothers is unabashed in confronting inequalities and oppression, policies, and lack of acknowledgment still plaguing Western society today. A must-read for anyone invested in the works of Butler, Perez, and Hooks, Peleg offers a hopeful roadmap to shaping a shared and collective future.