Unblurring the Lines of Identity

The Daily Iowan
By Brittney Berget
February 12, 2007

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Mignon Moore says the most important value for people struggling with their sexuality is being true to themselves - something that's true for everyone.

"Sometimes, decisions people make aren't what others have in mind for them," said Moore, who shared the results of a two-year study with a crowd of around 50 on Feb. 9.

Moore, a University of California-Los Angeles assistant professor of sociology and African-American studies, said it takes a while to accept one's identity, so it's perfectly natural if others struggle with that personality.

"People need to do what feels right in their hearts and be brave," she said.

Moore's lecture - "Who Wears the Pants? Household Decision-Making in Black Lesbian-Headed Households" - was sponsored by the UI sociology, women-studies, and sexuality-studies departments, and focused on leadership in black lesbian households.

She drew from her observations of 100 lesbian women in New York City during a two-year interval spent interviewing, studying, and observing those women's roles in the home. She chose to look at relationships in which either one or both partners were black to better understand competing identities.

"These women had a racial identity, and I wanted to see how that influenced their sexuality," Moore said, sharing her observations of about five couples with the audience. "There are expectations set for social interactions in relationships."

The goal was to see what factors - other than income and gender - affected which female played the dominant role in lesbian families. Moore also looked at factors that affected which partner assumed more child-rearing responsibilities, took care of financial matters, and completed household chores.

"The question I'm asking is, in the absence of sex divisions, what creates hierarchy?" Moore said, adding her book Invisible Families: Gay Identities, Relationships, and Motherhood Among Black and Latina Women in New York contains a chapter showcasing the study's results.

Moore found that lesbian-headed families were often greatly affected by children. "Biomoms" - the women in the family that gave birth to the children - were generally the ones who were in charge of raising the kids. She added that some women pooled their money for joint responsibilities, such as purchasing a house or a car, but mostly kept expenses separate.

But all cases were different, and there were always exceptions to the rule, she said.