Introduction: Adoption Interruptus

ABSTRACT:Queer theory has been brought to bear on adoption studies (e.g., queer parenting or gay and lesbian adoption rights, transracial and transnational adoption), but adoption studies has not meaningfully directed its attention toward sexuality per se. This paper introduces the idea that adoption is a fruitful lens through which to expand understandings of sexual regulation, sexual identities, or sexual intensities, pleasures, and intimacies. It also suggests that analyses of the interplay between meanings of adoption and sexuality are an opportunity to rethink both. It enlivens critical thought surrounding heteronormativity by leveraging adoption as a version of existence that is fundamentally at odds with heterosexuality as a reproductive end.