Lesbian Step Families: An Ethnography of Love explores five lesbian step families’definitions of the step parent role and how they accomplish parenting tasks, cope with homophobia, and define and interpret their experiences. An intensive feminist qualitative study, the book offers guidelines for counselors and lesbian step families for creating healthy, functioning family structures and environments. It is the first book to concentrate exclusively on lesbian step families rather than on lesbian mothering in general. In Lesbian Step Families: An Ethnography of Love, you’ll explore in detail the different kinds of step relationships that are developed and what factors may lead to the different types of step mothering in lesbian step families. The book helps you understand these relationships and parent roles through in-depth discussions of: how a step mother and legal mother who live together negotiate and organize parenting and homemaking tasks how members of lesbian step families define and create the step mother role strategies family members use to define and cope with oppression how sexism is transmitted within the family and how mothering may limit and/or contribute to female liberation the opinions and viewpoints of the children of these families The findings in Lesbian Step Families: An Ethnography of Love challenge traditional views of mothering and fathering as gender and biologically based activities; they indicate that lesbian step families model gender flexibility and that the mothers and step mothers share parenting--both traditional mothering and fathering--tasks. This allows the biological mother some freedom from motherhood as well as support in it. With insight such as this, you will be prepared to help a client, a loved one, or yourself develop and maintain healthy family relationships. Reviews: “Offering both practical guidelines and inspiration, Lesbian Step Families shows how amazingly ordinary yet extraordinarily different two-mother families can be.” Feminist Bookstore News “This is the first book to concentrate exclusively on lesbian step families rather than lesbian mothering in general. Outlines: A Newsletter for Ithaca’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Community “If the book Lesbian Step Families: An Ethnography of Love had existed when I took my first tentative and uneven steps into my new family, maybe it wouldn’t have been so hard. I found each of these family stories deeply moving, and the author’s analysis noticeably tender and supportive. This groundbreaking book will be extremely helpful to any couple with children from a previous relationship, straight or lesbian, who are considering making a long-term commitment to each other. Lesbian Step Families affirms the transforming power of love.” Alternative Family “THIS SENSITIVELY WRITTEN STUDY OF FIVE FAMILIES BREAKS NEW GROUND. Through the use of ethnographic methods, Janet Wright describes how beautifully ordinary and yet how exquisitely different two-mother families are. The book is a must for all students and professionals interested in providing affirming services to the evolving mosaic of family life in contemporary society.” John F. Longres, PhD, Professor and Associate Dean, School of Social Work, University of Washington, Seattle “Provides the readers with an honest and holistic view of the realities and challenges of lesbian step families, a type of family that is given little attention in the literature. Wright seamlessly interweaves direct quotations from family members, thematic analyses, and theoretical issues into a complex and compassionate portrayal of lesbian experience and family life. . . . With insight and sensitivity, THIS BOOK REVEALS THE NEGATIVE MANIFESTATIONS OF LESBIAN OPPRESSION AS WELL AS THE STRENGTHS, RESILIENCE, AND JOYS OF LESBIAN FAMILY LIFE. Wright provides readers with the rare opportunity to not only learn about lesbian step families but also to learn from members of these families.” Diane Kravetz, PhD, Professor, School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison Contents: Contents Complexity and Opportunity The Family Gestalt We Are (Normal) Family The Lesbian Couple as Heads of Household: Attempting Matriarchy in the Shadow of Patriarchy Outside/Insight: Creating the Step Mother Role and Redefining the Mother Role Forging Families in a Heterosexual Supremacist Environment Free to Be You and Me Appendices References Index from the publisher's website
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