In defense of queer kinships: Oedipus recast

This article revisits the Oedipus complex and Jacques Lacan's reformulations of it in the concepts of the desire of the mother and the Name-of-the-Father. Arguing that the aforementioned terms lend themselves to normative interpretations that prove damaging when applied to questions about queer sexualities and families, this article advocates conceptualizing the components of the Oedipus complex as singular statements, instead of as particular types of identifying or identifiable persons (mothers, fathers).