Customer Reviews

Growing Up in a Lesbian Family: Effects on Child Development

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This book was very informational for research on lesbian parenting. The research was conducted in the United Kingdom, therefore the subjects interviewed were all British. This book gave a realistic overview of the adverse effects on child development as well any postive effects.

This book seemed to be more objective on the subject, with clynical results. At times, the book was somewhat "dry", but most detailed research material is "dry" in nature.

Mona, Employee, Student, Mother & Wife

Although the data analyzed in this book are almost 10 years old, this text does provide a timely *empirical* analysis of children growing up with lesbian mothers. The authors discuss a variety of previous research evidence that it is quality of family relationships -- not the sexual orientation of the parents -- that most impacts children's development; but their study adds to this literature in an important way: theirs is a longitudinal study that looks at *adult* adjustment of children of lesbians. On the down side are some editorial issues: typos, repeated annoying use of the redundant term "lesbian women," and worst of all LOTS of material directly from Golombok & Fivush's 1994 book, Gender Development! The greatest contribution of this book is the evidence it provides to dispel ignorant, homophobic myths and sterotypes that children brought up by gay parents are somehow necessarily worse off than children raised by straight parents. I think the authors actually intend this book to be used to change public opinion and even influence court decisions on child custody. I hope it works.