Recognition and Regulation of Same-Sex Couples in the U. K.: An Exploratory Study of Civil Partnership

Mike Thomas

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Recognition and Regulation of Same-Sex Couples in the U. K.: An Exploratory Study of Civil Partnership

In: Examining Aspects of Sexuality and the Self

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Mike Thomas

Mike Thomas
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 21–30

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848880207_003

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This chapter offers an exploratory analysis of civil partnership as a form of legal recognition for lesbian and gay couples in the United Kingdom. Although presented by the UK Government as a matter of equality and fairness, civil partnership carries a number of apparently contradictory messages around control, discipline and the promotion of highly normative behaviours and attitudes. A Foucauldian theoretical framework, drawing upon concepts of sexuality, discourse and discipline, makes clear that civil partnership submits same-sex couples to unprecedented levels of state intervention and social scrutiny. This theoretical framework is applied to data gathered through interviews with seventeen same-sex couples, offering an engagement between government objectives and couples’ own motivation in seeking official recognition. Narrative analysis of interview data suggests that lesbian and gay couples are aware of the numerous and contradictory themes within civil partnership and are able to demonstrate both acceptance and resistance with regard to disciplinary discourses. A Foucauldian policy critique combined with narrative analysis of qualitative data presents a highly nuanced examination of civil partnership as a form of social regulation that implies moral responsibility as well as financial and legal entitlements. With the number of countries offering same-sex marriage and other forms of recognition increasing year on year, the findings of this research offer a timely and highly relevant assessment of contradictory and unforeseen aspects of recognition as applied in the United Kingdom.

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Examining Aspects of Sexuality and the Self

E-Book ISBN:: 9781848880207

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 29 Apr 2010

Subjects
- Social Sciences
  - Cultural Studies
  - Gender Studies

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Recognition and Regulation of Same-Sex Couples in the U. K.: An Exploratory Study of Civil Partnership

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Examining Aspects of Sexuality and the Self

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