Theorizing queer and trans social reproduction in feminist economic geography

This review paper builds on research in feminist economic geography on social reproduction to explore how non-normative sexualities and gender identities have been and might further be conceptualized within this framework. The paper synthesizes existing research to show how a queer and trans social reproduction moves beyond sites, spaces, and theories premised upon privatized systems of property and care, such as the home and the family. It analyzes the (re)turn to Marxism in queer and trans theory to theorize how emphasizing the property status of cisheteronormativity further advances our understandings of social reproduction, while continuing to conceptualize gender and sexuality as inextricably linked to race. I argue that centering queer and trans subjects and theories allows us to outline with greater accuracy how cisness and straightness underwrite our current regimes of social reproduction. The review distills four key starting points for a theory of queer and trans social reproduction: space, work, care, and property. It contributes to the feminist idea that the production of difference—with specific reference to non-normative forms of sexuality and gender identity—is central to social reproduction.