FAMILY AS A SEMANTIC SUBSTITUTE FOR RACE

-Eugenics & Sexuality-

Eugenics, as a philosophy devoted to the genetic advancement of the "race," offered empirical credence to ideas of white racial superiority and the assumption that non-white races were inferior and polluting due to their genetic makeup. Preconceptions about who was "eugenically valuable" and able to have normal kids were influenced by the assumption that white people had superior intellect, mental health, and physique. Lair (2017) explains that under the pretense of "scientific knowledge," eugenicists upheld white supremacy by advocating for the development of a physically healthy white population. Eugenics associated degeneracy with impairment, especially mental impairment. Thus, being "pure" white required being able-minded, thereby demeaning everyone else. In America, eugenics was widely practiced. Its success depended on discovering, diagnosing, and managing the differences between average and defective minds and bodies, as well as controlling reproduction and, consequently, sex and marriage. This background is the foundation for the diagnoses of abnormality that homosexuality and transsexualism represent.

The Normal Family as we understand it today is not a naturally occurring phenomenon; instead, it is the result of a complex web of institutions and eugenic processes established to promote conformity to the status quo and protect white supremacist interests. Such artifice, which seeks to eradicate those deemed as abnormal, operates in the modern nation-state through the regulation of sexuality. Eugenics as a racial cleansing Project has evolved in its rhetoric after the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, but its aims and reach remain the same.

McWhorter (2009) explains how, at the beginning of the 20th century, there was a concerted push towards the betterment of the "Nordic Germ Plasm" to be achieved by removing the unwanted elements of society (the racialized, homosexuals, idiots) and to get them to stop from reproducing and therefore, from contaminating the manifest destiny of the Nordic Race of domination. The Abnormal posed not only a danger to the Nation but to the future of the Race; it was a sexual predation that could only be managed by selective sterilization, institutionalization and by managing marriage as a bio-political institution.

Many eugenicists expected their race improvement programs, positive or negative, to be voluntary, hence the emphasis on education, the moral mandate, and the need to control births via sterilization or contraception (Kevles, 1985, p.90). Control over the most private areas of life, such as marriage, sex, and pregnancy, was initially left private. However, the North American government soon realized that it had to do something more to prevent the deterioration of the population, so one mechanism to avoid this was to institutionalize marriage and to require pelvic exams to make sure the women were able to conceive in order to have a license to marry (McWhorter, 2009, p. 269).

An illustrative example was that the State of Indiana implemented a tripartite measure, approved in 1905, that 1) prohibited the marriage of mentally disabled and habitual drinkers, 2) required a health certificate from all people released from mental institutions, and 3) declared invalids the marriages that these people, to avoid state law, had contracted in another State (Kevles, 1985, pp. 99-100). Little by little, other States followed the example of Indiana. In fact, Nazi Germany was inspired by the Eugenics North American Eugenics movement do much to the extent that the German sterilization laws were directly modelled after California's existing legislation that forced sterilization of several groups such as people experiencing poverty, people with epilepsy, blind, deaf, feeble-minded, and people without housing (McWhorter, 2009, p. 229). It is not a mere coincidence that racialized individuals are overrepresented in all of these classifications; sexuality has always been a biopolitical project, a means to manage Race (Whiteness) through reproduction.

-Racial Purification-

In the United States, the majority of migrants were economic refugees who were poor, uneducated, and suffering from health issues. While some activists aimed to enhance the living conditions of the impoverished, others viewed the challenges faced by marginalized groups—such as migrants—like poverty, illness, and criminal behaviour, not as social issues but as inherent traits passed down genetically. Consequently, proponents of this viewpoint believed that society could eradicate problems like crime, poverty, and disease by preventing these individuals from reproducing. Sterilization emerged as a central tactic in the eugenics movement across various nations because it was seen as a proactive measure to safeguard society from individuals deemed mentally deficient, criminals, and others deemed unfit.

Since 1875, the United States had begun to impose obstacles on immigration, although at that time, these only affected "undesirable" foreigners, including prostitutes and ex-convicts. As the years went by, other groups were gradually added: in 1882, "lunatics and idiots," in 1903, "epileptics and insane," and in 1907, "imbeciles and feeble-minded." Until the Jonson-Logge Immigration Act of 1924 was passed, which was intended to stimulate the process of racial purification (Miranda & Vallejo, 2005).

-Past & Modern Eugenics-

Eugenicists in the early 20th century spread a set of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours that defined adults with intellectual disabilities as the biological enemy of society and the antithesis of the model citizen. Sex-segregated institutionalization and, in many cases, compulsory sterilization were embedded into the eugenic paradigm. These methods of eugenics are no longer accepted. Eugenics was shunned after World War II as a result of global awareness of the horrors carried out in Germany. Because of its widespread link with the Third Reich, it appeared to have remained confined to history books by 1960, but the 1960s saw disputes over reproductive autonomy and birth control. The 1970s witnessed a discussion over abortion, both pro-life and pro-choice stances, and eugenics gradually resurfaced thanks to new technology such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), assisted reproductive techniques, sperm banks, genetic manipulation, and, finally, cloning.

Despite the lack of outright public support, eugenics practices never ended; McConnell and Phelan (2022) contend that a variety of societal structures and behaviours that deprive persons with intellectual disabilities of the dignity, opportunity, and resources required to engage in society on an equal footing with others are now encoding and propagating the eugenic paradigm. These eugenic practices are also mainly targeted toward racialized populations; the logic is that if you cannot eradicate (kill) the Other, the next best thing that can be done to protect the "Normal Family" is to stop the anti-family agents (the Homosexual, Racialized peoples, the disabled) from reproducing.

-Reproducing the Nordic Nation-

The idea of the "Normal Family" functions as a powerful mechanism embedded within societal structures to protect and uphold Whiteness. At its core lies the State's strategic promotion of "Family Values," which, upon closer inspection, reveal themselves as a subtle defence of racial interests—a continuation of eugenic ideals in modern form. Historically, the shift from overt racial ideologies to more covert systemic racism has been accompanied by redefining racism itself, minimizing it to personal prejudice. This shift allows the State to divert attention from overtly discriminatory practices to seemingly neutral policies that perpetuate racial hierarchies. These policies, under the guise of promoting the "Family," conceal and fortify white heteropatriarchy.

Ladelle McWhorter's analysis of the "Normal Family" (2009) adds a critical perspective. She defines it as a heterosexual couple sanctioned by the State, deeply committed to procreation and lacking extended family ties. Any deviation from this norm, such as childlessness, is viewed as a failure, as the Family's primary role is seen not only in terms of familial lineage but also in preserving a specific racial and genetic heritage, often associated with Nordic ideals of purity and strength.

The emphasis on procreation within the confines of the "Normal Family" supports a broader biopolitical agenda where the State's interests align with maintaining and propagating desirable racial characteristics. This subtle form of eugenics, disguised in familial values and reproductive responsibility rhetoric, serves to uphold and perpetuate white dominance in society. Thus, the "Normal Family" is not just a personal or societal ideal but a crucial element in a broader network of racial power dynamics. Its portrayal as a natural and desirable social unit normalizes and institutionalizes racial hierarchies under the guise of familial and reproductive norms, reinforcing white supremacy.