ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors address some contemporary social issues, showing that our ability to understand them requires contextual knowledge of regional constructions of kinship and family. Some contemporary issues of violence against women that concern kinship are recent, having been brought about by clashes between socioeconomic changes and more traditional structures of kinship and gender. This greater awareness of varied sexual orientations and identities has impacted kinship, marriage, and the family, stirring up controversy along the way. While transgender persons are not new, what is new in the United States and some other countries is the impact on gender of our greater public awareness and better understanding of this plurality of sexual orientations. Some people are against homosexuality itself; others are afraid of what they see as "family breakdown," regarding same-sex marriages as threats to social order, somewhat similar to single moms.
