S. Lisa Washington

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Time and Punishment

The legal system’s ability to control people’s time is a form of dominion that exacerbates the structural disadvantages that marginalized families already face. Constriction, stretching, and indeterminacy are important aspects of temporal marginalization in the family regulation system. Considering the experience of time is one step towards understanding its impacts.

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Weaponizing Fear

Governor Abbott’s directive that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services should investigate so-called “abusive sex change procedures” fits within a broader project of weaponizing fear to control marginalized families. The issue is not primarily the directive’s misuse of the family regulation system but the system itself.