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from Clinical/Therapeutic Issues
APA Study Says: "Who Needs Dad?"
By Dale O'Leary
In the July edition of The American
Psychologist, Laura Silverstein and Carl Auerbach argue against the traditional view that both
fathers and mothers are essential to optimum child development.
In "Deconstructing the Essential Father," Silverstein and
Auerbach contend that heterosexuality, heterosexual marriage, and the
biological family of mother and father are not to be seen as natural.
Both writers are social constructionists, and they hold that
the differences between men and women are social constructs created
by a patriarchal society. Since gender differences are created by
oppression, they can and should be eliminated. In fact, the very
idea of a "natural" family structure sends up a red flag: for
social constructionists, such ideas are called "heterosexism," and
they are the very equivalent of racism.
The authors describe the "essentialist" (traditional) position:
The essentialist perspective defines mothering and
fathering as distinct social roles that are not interchangeable.
Marriage is seen as the social institution within which
responsible fathering and positive child adjustment are most
likely to occur. Fathers are understood as having a unique and
essential role to play in child development, especially for
boys who need a male role model in order to establish a
masculine gender identity.
They conclude:
From our perspective, the emphasis on the essential
importance of fathers and heterosexual marriage...is an attempt to
reassert the cultural hegemony of traditional values such
as heterocentrism, Judeo-Christian marriage, and male power
and privilege.
Our goal, in contrast, is to create an ideology that
defines the father-child bond as independent of the father-mother
relationship...
We are...interested in encouraging public policy that
supports the legitimacy of diverse family structures, rather
than policy that privileges the two-parent, heterosexual,
married family."
Broken Families Called "Good"
Those same "multiple and diverse family structures"
which Silverstein and Auerbach praise for challenging the structure
of the dominant culture, are in fact what used to be called
broken families, in which children are separated from their
biological parents. The authors further recommend this economic
substitute for fathers: "a comprehensive program of governmental subsidies"
so that the taxpayers will be the breadwinners, and fathers can
be permanently out of the picture.
One wonders, is social-constructionist research concerned with
discovering the truth about human
nature? Or could this be a politicization of the authors' personal rage and rebellion
into social science theory, and translated into public policy? Only
the nanny state could support a society of fatherless families.
Given the number of journals willing to publish advocacy
studies and the number of institutions willing to hire and promote
advocacy researchers, the sheer volume of such research is increasing
exponentially.
Are Lesbians Better Mothers?
Following this line of reasoning, one fast-growing area of
research is that of the fitness--even superiority--of lesbians
as parents. One such writer, Patterson, has openly stated that
researchers should produce a body of research which advocates of
homosexual parenting can use in arguing before courts and
legislators (1). Patterson has collected a number of studies in which
small groups of lesbian mothers were solicited through friendship
circles to participate in research to show that homosexual mothers
were equal to heterosexual mothers. These women and their children
were then interviewed or given questionnaires, and their answers
were compared with control groups composed of single mothers.
A Compromised Peer Review System?
Belcastro et al (2) reviewed 14 of these studies and found
that for the most part, the studies lacked internal and external
credibility. In several cases the authors ignored their own data.
But this does not deter Patterson and others in the field. The
studies are collected and used in legal briefs as proof that
children raised by homosexual parents are just as psychologically healthy
as though raised by married heterosexual couples, even though the
majority of studies compared them to children already in
broken homes--that is, children disadvantaged by the absence of a father.
Unless care is taken to sift through the research and
investigate the legitimacy of its claims, courts considering gay adoption
and child custody will be presented with false and misleading
testimony. Belcastro (1993) concluded his review of the literature
on homosexual parenting with the following:
A disturbing revelation was that some of the published
works had to disregard their own results in order to conclude
that homosexuals were fit parents. We believe that the system
of manuscript review by peers, for minimum scientific
standards of research, was compromised in several of these studies.
The conclusion that there are no significant differences
in children reared by lesbian mothers versus heterosexual
mothers is not supported by the published research data base.
Charley's Foot
Several years ago, I met a 16-year-old boy named Charley, who
had lost his foot many years ago in an encounter with a lawn
mower. Charley was a great kid--happy, joking, and fully adjusted to
his prosthesis. Should Charley's ability to cope with his
traumatic loss lead us to conclude that "One foot is as good as two"?
Of course not.
Some children manage to persevere in spite of traumatic
disadvantage. Human beings are capable of dealing with many types of
adversity. But shouldn't society be constructed in a way that
minimizes tragedy, not in a manner that supports it?
Deconstructing fatherhood is a sure prescription for disaster.
References:
(1) Patterson, C. and Redding, R. (1996) Lesbian and gay
families with stepchildren: Implications of social science research
for policy. Journal of Social Issues 52,3:29-50.
(2) Belcastro, P., Gramlish, T., Nicholson, T., Price, J.,
Wilson, R. (1993). A review of data-based studies addressing the effects
of homosexual parenting on children's sexual and social
functioning. Journal of Divorce amd Remarriage 20, 1/2:105-122.
Updated: 8 February 2008
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