Thesis (Ph.D.)--Alliant International University, San Francisco Bay, 2002
This interview study explored 11 lesbian mothers' sense of subjectivity and their negotiation of the dichotomy, alleged by psychoanalytic authors, between the identities of mother and lesbian, focusing on femininity, sexuality, nurturance, and reproduction. The sample was balanced to include biological mothers and non-biological mothers. Mothers who had a background in psychoanalytic theory and those who did not were interviewed, so that themes could be examined through both knowledge of these concepts and through lived experience. The interviews were analyzed to yield themes; coded transcripts had an inter-rater reliability of 96%
Most participants felt that their lesbian identities provided opportunities to explore, expand, and express aspects of their femininity. Their femininity was not fused with motherhood, motherhood could exist separately from femininity, and femininity did not equate with passivity or lack of subjectivity. Most women felt that subjectivity was important both for themselves and for the development of their children. Several women recognized that they experienced nurturance in less stereotypical ways because they embody a marginal identity
Although several participants described logistical difficulties in coordinating sexuality and motherhood, they do not feel that their identity as mother contradicts their identity as a sexual person, nor did they experience conflicts between notions of femininity and agentic sexuality. Many saw motherhood as taking the foreground in their identity. Becoming a mother was experienced by most of the participants as shifting them into the “mainstream.” While validating, this shift also motivated many to be more vocal about their lesbian identity
Because, for the most part, the women in this study did not experience conflicts in identities, the need for new paradigms in understanding lesbian mothers is explored. Clinical and theoretical implications, including the importance of community, acknowledging the diversity of lesbian mothers' experiences, and the need to encourage mothers to pursue their own interests and pleasures, are discussed
