The Lesbian Family Life Cycle [Paperback]

Suzanne Slater (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1999

This is the first book to examine the special bonds and stresses, common to lesbian families and to provide a five-stage working model for the development of lesbian couple relationships. Drawing on more than sixteen years of clinical experience and research, Suzanne Slater explores the coping mechanisms, lesbian families have developed in order to interact with their families of origin, with the straight world, and with the lesbian communities of which they are a part. By treating lesbian relationships on their own terms, rather than in terms of heterosexual relationships, Slater provides valuable guidance for friends as well as members of lesbian families. Her book is also useful for therapists who wish to design more effective and informed therapies than those based on heterosexual experience.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Slater, a psychotherapist who specializes in work with lesbians, advocates what she considers gay women's "basic right to parent their own children." While conceding that many mainstream professionals and laypersons regard lesbian families as "inherently and fundamentally deviant," she emphatically disagrees. This scholarly yet accessible study sets forth a five-stage "life cycle model" of family experience for cohabiting lesbians, whether or not they have children. Stages 1-3 involve becoming a couple, solidifying the partnership through ongoing relational work, and the trials and deepening intimacy of the middle years. In stage 4, generativity, each partner achieves links to the future, whether through parenting, social activism or other pursuits. The final stage, the over-65 years, encompasses challenges such as retirement, increased togetherness, lack of income, health emergencies and "widowhood." Slater also discusses coping mechanisms by which lesbian couples deal with social rejection, homophobia and isolation.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Still the only book entirely devoted to the lesbian family and how it grows and changes over time... The Lesbian Family Life Cycle was a standout when it was first published, and it is a standout today. If you are interested in the lesbian family, consider letting it stand out on your bookshelf." - Carla M. Monestere, The Lesbian Review of Books ADVANCE PRAISE "The author opens the inner door to the lives of lesbian couples where strength, fortitude, and inventiveness guide them through a life journey absent of maps or societal support. Our understanding of what family means is expanded and myths and prejudices are dispelled. Important reading for friends and families of lesbians and gays as well as mental health professionals."- Stanley Siegel, author of Uncharted Lives: Understanding the Life Passages of Gay Men "The Lesbian Family Life Cycle shows us that all families, and indeed even the idea of family itself, are created both by culture and by individual creative agency. By particularizing the process through which lesbians form attachments, create communities, and care for children, Suzanne Slater puts what has been invisible in our homophobic society onto center stage."- Virginia Goldner, Ackerman Institute of Family Therapy

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Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252067835
• ISBN-13: 978-0252067839
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,862,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)