American Journal of Sociology (2018) book review by Elroi Windsor.
"Pfeffer's ability to establish rapport with her interviewees is evidence of her trustworthiness... [Her] positionality also lends an ethic of care embedded within Pfeffer's interpretations, which reveal her desire to handle queer and trans experiences with sensitivity."
American Psychological Association's Division 44 Reviews (2019) book review by Alexander Young.
"Pfeffer... provides a well-rounded and surprisingly intimate look at a world within the transgender community involving cisgender women and transgender men. Pfeffer leads the reader through her natural academic curiosity while providing readers with a simple and easy to navigate understanding throughout the book, making it a must read."
Contemporary Sociology (2020) book review by stef shuster.
"Pfeffer’s work fills a gap by showing how definitions of family may be changing—and not only for queer communities—and how queer families tell us much about the restrictive norms that heterosexual families continue to experience in contemporary society... By studying queer family formations, Pfeffer’s work documents how even in emergent social relationships, patterns of inequality continue to persist."
Gender & Society (2017) book review by Amanda Kennedy
"Pfeffer... is incredibly successful in creating a book that is both groundbreaking in its focus and interesting to read. Moreover, the book demonstrates the potential of truly intersectional analysis of qualitative data-providing systematic insights and complexity while keeping a human face on the story...Readers interested in moving beyond simple, and often stereotypical, renderings of transgender people will appreciate Pfeffer's unwillingness to rest on orthodox gender role expectations, and her dedication to uncovering what she calls the 'unwieldy and shape-shifting social institution' of the family."
Journal of Family Theory & Review (2018) book review by Lisa F. Platt.
"The book is approachable in a way that both scholars and the general community can gain new perspectives on it from the lives of Pfeffer's participants... Queering Families is groundbreaking for bringing a broader and more inclusive framework to postmodern families."
Sociological Inquiry (2020) book review by Sarah E. Frank.
"Utilizing deep histories and lengthy interviews, the research methodology serves the purpose of establishing a complex yet thorough foundation for the research on relationships and families with cisgender/transgender partners. The author treads cautiously, knowing that much of the focus on trans bodies has been exploitative and merely addresses genitals and intercourse. Pfeffer relies heavily on honest participant responses provided without censorship, blending their excerpts with her expertise in academic theories of sexuality and bodies."
"Do you ever wonder how an author decided to write a book or how a book cover came to be? I often find these to be fascinating parts of the book creation process, but areas that many authors don’t say much about. In this post, I’m going to offer some of this background story on my book, Queering Families: The Postmodern Partnerships of Cisgender Women and Transgender Men."
“Trans people and their partners are carving out innovative and generative pathways full of pleasure and joy that are nuanced, complicated and deserving of broader and more focused sociological attention.”