Commentary on Almack’s Chapter

Mothers on Display: Lunchboxes, Social Class and Moral Accountability

“…Whereas the existing literature highlights the particular importance of displaying family in less traditional contexts (e.g. see Almack, 2011; Ryan-Flood, 2011), our data suggest that more attention could be paid to the everyday display work performed by mothers in relatively hegemonic positions.…”

“…However, being on display also risks being judged as troublesome or as an illegitimate form of family, in the case of differing from prevailing social norms (Gabb, 2011;Heaphy, 2011) replicating the ideological dominance of white, middle class, heterosexual nuclear family settings (see Skeggs, 2004). Empirical work has focused on diverse family types, including lesbian couples whose work of displaying motherhood is intensified at certain points in time, such as during pregnancy (Ryan-Flood, 2011). Such display work can be seen as a strategy orientated towards gaining recognition of being a family (Short, 2011: 121) and overcoming the uncertainties 'for families whose contours are not easily recognised' (Almack, 2011: 117).…”

“We Are Three Parents, but Legally Two”: Absent Legality, Present Display

“…Jef’s story concurs with previous research findings on how four-parent families (encompassing a gay and lesbian couple) are sometimes “read” as two heterosexual couples, for instance by children’s daycare assistants (Ryan-Flood, 2011, 123). Such findings suggest how people “outside” of queer culture can stay oblivious, as they do not have the tools or knowledge to read the display correctly (Gabb, 2011, p. 44).…”

“…That is, the lack of legal framework for multiple parent families has consequences for how the participants themselves externalized their parental status. Indeed, when display work takes place on a macrolevel without being legally recognized in society, previous research has shown this will have legal repercussions of invisibility and nonexistence (Ryan-Flood 2011, p. 123). Legal repercussions are generally found to have different impact levels in the everyday life of nonlegal parents, ranging from less “serious” impact (e.g., the need for administrative measures while travelling) to serious impact (e.g., the incapacity of urgent medical decision-making) (Cammu, 2019).…”

“…The extra focus on display for unrecognized families thus reinforces a normalizing gaze that legitimizes certain displays at the expenses of others (Gabb, 2011, p. 39). Display work is indeed very much a legal matter (Ryan-Flood, 2011, p. 123), as the display of unrecognized families might not be granted the same privileges of recognized parental links, with repercussions on the field of parental responsibility, custody, inheritance, social welfare, and so on (Ryan-Flood, 2011, p. 123). Legality in this sense is believed to facilitate or hinder certain expressions of family display.…”