Who Gets to Define "Family" is Political
“Family values” brings up a very specific image rooted in the narrow idea of what a family is—such as a white, heterosexual marriage with children and a picket fence. But this image leaves out a lot of people, and so many families do not look like the image of the “nuclear” family that is often uplifted. Preston Mitchum, attorney, advocate, activist, and sometimes-reality-tv-personality, sits down to talk with us about conservative definitions of “family” and “family values“ and how those concepts shift into real, harmful policy.
Religion, tradition, power, and national identity tie closely into conservative interpretations of “family values.” This excludes nontraditional households, the LGBTQI+ community, and many more people, and ascribes political power to that exclusion. Housing, reproduction, immigration protection, marriage access, and adoption access are policy indicators that often do not reflect lived experiences for families and ultimately expose people to further marginalization.
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Preston Mitchum on X
Preston Mitchum’s website
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Transcript
Jennie: Welcome to rePROs Fight Back, a podcast on all things related to sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice. [music intro]
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Follow Preston Mitchum on X and find Preston’s website here.
Remember that family is not a fixed entity. Rather, it is something that we build, maintain, and protect. Legal and biological connection does not make a relationship less legitimate than the next; that hierarchy leads to harmful assumptions about what family is.