Title: Welfare reform and sexual regulation /
Authors: Smith, Anna Marie.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press,
Year: 2007
Subjects: Public welfare United States; Welfare recipients Government policy United States.; Poor women Government policy United States.; Poor families Government policy United States.; Poor African Americans Government policy.; Neoliberalism United States.; Sex and law United States; Feminist theory.; United States Social policy
Abstract: "When Americans think about welfare reform, they generally refer to its "workfare" requirements and strict time limits. Anna Marie Smith argues, however, that the sexual regulation dimensions of welfare reform are also significant. Inspired by the political and philosophical interventions of feminist women of color and Foucauldian social theory, she explores the scope and structure of the child support enforcement, family cap, marriage promotion, and abstinence education measures that are embedded within contemporary welfare policy. Presenting original legal research on both federal and state law and drawing from historical sources, social theory, and normative frameworks, she makes the case that these measures seriously violate the rights of poor mothers.
Contents: From paternafare to marriage promotion : sexual regulation and welfare reform -- The ideological construction of paternafare -- Comparing paternafare and the caregiver's entitlement -- Welfare reform, reproductive heterosexuality, and marriage -- From enslaved "broodmare" to "welfare queen" : patriarchal and white supremacist constructions of the Black woman -- Welfare reform and the changing logic of governance -- Welfare policy today : neo-liberal regulation of the poor or neo-eugenics? -- Welfare reform and feminist politics -- Appendix 1: Gender, race, and the TANF population -- Appendix 2: Family structure and poverty -- Appendix 3: Child support enforcement allocations in a neo-liberal fiscal environment -- Appendix 4: The "swarming" of paternafare -- Appendix 5: Race, ethnicity, and the family cap.