Lesbians and Lesbian Families

Joan Laird is professor emerita of Smith College School for social work, where she chaired the Human Behavior in the Social Environment sequence. Her most recent book (coedited with Robert-Jay Green) is Lesbians and Gays in Couples and Families: A Handbook for Therapists.

• Introduction Part One: Lesbians and the Social Context 1. Unconsciousness-Raising: Hidden Dimensions of Heterosexism in Theory and Practice with Lesbians, by Elaine Spaulding 2. Ascribing Master Status to Lesbians: Clinical Echoes of Identity Dilemmas, by Susan Donner 3. Gender and Sexuality in Lesbian Relationships: A Feminist Constructionist Perspective, by Joan Laird 4. The Long Road to Equality: Lesbians and Social Policy, by Ann Hartman Part Two: Lesbian Couples 5. A Struggle for Language: Patterns of Self-Disclosure in Lesbian Couples, by Tara Healy 6. Therapy with a Lesbian Couple: The Art of Balancing Lenses, by Kathryn Karusaitis Basham 7. Object Relations Couples Therapy with Lesbians, by Carol Sussal Part Three: Lesbians Parenting, and Children 8. Lesbian Co-Parenting: On Being/Being with the Invisible (M)Other, by Cheryl Muzio 9. Lesbian Parents: Understanding Developmental Pathways, by Betty Morningstar 10. The Family Lives of Lesbian Mothers, by Laura Lott-Whitehead and Carol T. Tully 11. Voices from the Heart: The Developmental Impact of a Mother's Lesbianism on Her Adolescent Children, by Ann O'Connell Part Four: Special Themes in Theory and Practice 12. A Relational Perspective on Mutuality and Boundaries in Clinical Practice with Lesbians, by Carolyn Dillon 13. Resilience in Lesbians: An Exploratory Study, by Sandra Anderson and Barbara Sussex 14. The Application of Control Mastery Theory in Clinical Practice with Lesbians, by Jo Nol