Societal pressures have led to social and legal policy changes that have resulted in fertility clinics increasingly permitting lesbians access to their services. Therefore, lesbian women are able to conceive their children and create their families in ways that historically were not available to them. While some research has been conducted examining the needs, experiences, and issues faced by lesbian-led families in general, there is a dearth of research that exclusively explores lesbian couples who conceived their children through the use of anonymous donor insemination. The qualitative method that guided this research was interpretive interactionism. Interviews were conducted with 10 couples who self-identified as lesbian, chose to have their children while in their lesbian relationships, and conceived their children through the use of anonymous donor insemination. Analysis of the transcripts revealed that four themes shaped, constructed, represented, and gave meaning to these unique family configurations. These four themes are (a) conception options of two women, (b) two women parenting, (c) anonymous donors/not fathers, and (d) families with lesbian mothers. These themes are elaborated in terms of their implications for lesbian-led families, clinical practice, and future research. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Mödra- och förlossningsvården i Sverige har riktlinjer för hur vården skall bedrivas för att kunna ge god vård inom reproduktiv och sexuell hälsa. De mänskliga rättigheterna betonar alla människors lika värde oavsett sexuell läggning. Trots det kan lesbiska föräldrar uppleva det som utmanande att finna vårdgivare som inte arbetar på ett heteronormativt sätt. Syftet med detta arbete var att belysa lesbiska föräldrars upplevelser av vården i samband med barnafödande och föräldraskap samt barnmorskans stödjande åtgärder för dessa mammor i föräldraskapet. En litteraturöversikt utfördes. Artikelsökningen genomfördes i databaserna PubMed och CINAHL där artiklar publicerade mellan åren 2000 – 2015 söktes. Författaren klassificerade och utförde kvalitetsbedömning på samtliga kvalitativa och kvantitativa artiklar. Femton vetenskapliga artiklar inkluderades i analysen. Resultatet beskriver lesbiska föräldrars vårdupplevelser. Föräldrarna hade erfarenhet av att känna sig exkluderade, men även positiva vårdupplevelser beskrevs, som att känna sig välkomnad. Flertalet medmammor beskrev upplevelsen av föräldrarollen som "en kamp att definiera sin roll". Genom att inkludera medmammor i övergången till moderskapet kunde vårdpersonal erbjuda ett bättre stöd i föräldrarollen. Barnmorskan kunde genom att bekräfta familjekonstellationen, stötta kvinnorna i föräldraskapet. Slutsatsen av detta arbete visar att lesbiska föräldrar riskerar negativt bemötande i mötet med vården i samband med barnafödande och föräldraskap. Utmaningarna lesbiska föräldrar upplever handlar om att "vara på nåder" hos vårdpersonal, att behöva förklara sig och att känna sårbarhet i patientrollen. På grund av heteronormativ vård och homofobi beskriver lesbiska föräldrar avvisande och exkludering i samspelet med vårdgivaren. Lesbiska föräldrar beskriver också att de möts av välkomnande och inkludering, framförallt inom förlossningsvården. Studiens resultat påvisade att bra stöd och personcentrerad vård kan ha en avgörande roll för att stärka föräldraskapet.

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Denna forskning genomfördes under åren 2000–2004. Forskningssammanhanget är både Lesbiska studier och IMER forskning. I avhandlingen studeras livserfarenheter som 21 lesbiska informanter från 15 olika länder, alla invandrare i Sverige, berättar om. Utgångspunkten för forskningen är sexualitet och migration. De övergripande forskningsfrågorna är: Genom vilka processer blir kvinnor medvetna om sin sexuella dragning till kvinnor? Hur ”lär” de sig att leva lesbiskt, samt inom vilket socialt sammanhang sker dessa processer? Forskningsfrågorna belyses genom de livserfarenheter som de 21 lesbiska informanterna berättar om. Analysen görs genom fokusering på det samband och den växelverkan som fi nns mellan lesbiskhet och migration i datamaterialet. Studien är etnografi sk och kvalitativ. Den narrativa metoden används för inhämtning av det empiriska materialet, vilket består av utskrivna intervjuer och anteckningar från deltagande observation. Analysen görs med hjälp av teorier om sociala relationer, heteronormativitet, stigmatisering, aktörskap och migration. Studien visar att informanternas erfarenheter av stigmatisering och marginalisering liknar varandra oavsett i vilket samhälle de växt upp. Marginaliseringen av lesbiska kvinnor hänger till stor del samman med en samhällsstruktur som förtrycker kvinnlig sexualitet. Det är genom komma-ut-processen som den lesbiska kvinnan ”lär” sig att ”vara” lesbisk. Stigmatisering är det sociala sammanhang i vilket den lesbiska kvinnan blir medveten om sin sexuella orientering. Genom sitt aktörskap ändrar den lesbiska kvinnan sin sociala position i marginalen och växer som ett självständigt och stolt lesbiskt subjekt. Detta leder henne till att söka sig till andra homosexuella (kvinnor och män). Känslan av grupptillhörighet baserad på likartade livserfarenheter, som har sin grund i samhällets attityd till deras lesbiskhet är centralt för informanternas liv och avgörande för bygget av ett lesbiskt samhälle, oavsett etnisk och nationell bakgrund. Det lesbiska samhället (och gaysamhället) är internationellt. / This research was carried out during the years 200-2004. The theoretical basis of the thesis is found within the fields of Lesbian Studies and IMER-studies (studies of International Migration and Ethnic Relations). In the thesis the life experiences of 21 informants, originating from 15 different countries are studied. The 21 informants are all immigrant women living in Sweden. The point of departure of the research is that of sexuality and migration. The main questions of the research are: through which processes do women obtain consciousness about their lesbian orientation, how do they “learn “to “be” lesbians and within which social context do these processes take place? Answers to these questions are given through an analysis of the life experiences of the 21 informants. The analysis is focuses on the connection and the interaction between lesbianism and migration. The study is ethnographic and qualitative. The narrative method is applied to obtain the empirical material containing transcribed interviews and notes from participant observation. Theories of social relationship, heteronormativity, stigmatization, agency, and migration are applied. The study shows that the informants’ experience of stigmatization and marginalization are very similar irrespective of which society they grew up in. Marginalization of lesbian women is very much a consequence of social structure, which oppresses female sexuality. It is through the coming out process that lesbian women “learn” to “be” lesbian. Stigmatization is the social context in which the lesbian women becomes aware of her sexual orientation and grows into conscious lesbian. It is through conscious action (agency) that she alters her social position in the margin and becomes an independent and proud lesbian subject. In the course of this process she seeks contact with other homosexuals (women and men) and she develops a sense of belonging to a group of people who share similar life experiences of stigmatization on the grounds of their homosexuality. This feeling is crucial for the establishment of a lesbian community, irrespective of ethnic and national background. The lesbian community (and gay community as a whole) is international.

This dissertation examines changes in the meaning of family and what this reveals about the complex, socially grounded mechanics of meaning-making more generally. Examining the discourse from interviews with 23 gay and lesbian parents, I show that they have very concrete and definable ideologies of family that reflect an American/ Western concept of kinship in which family is made up of those who are related by blood, marriage or adoption; as well as an understanding that family can also be chosen and therefore outside of traditional biogenetic structures. For these men and women, family of choice and the dominant American kinship structure are not mutually exclusive. Through an analysis of the participants' definitions of family, this dissertation finds that the parents gave both a narrow definition (that which includes only blood and legal relationships) and a broad definition (that which includes those not related by blood, marriage or adoption). Based on these definitions, both from the participants themselves and from those who have spoken out nationally against same-sex marriage and parenting, I apply Lakoff's Prototype Theory to offer a way to understand the disconnection between those who believe being gay and being a parent are incompatible, and those who see it as one of many types of family that do not conform to a dominant ideology. I identify a prototype of FAMILY made up of two radial categories to account for two central, yet opposed, ideologies, separated solely by whether parents could be the same sex. I also discuss the parents' positioning of their narratives toward local and nonlocal interactants and their use of generic and personal features in their discourse. The parents both draw upon external influences and become meaning-makers themselves through negotiations of their family identities in the context of dominant ideologies of family that often regard them as illegitimate. The outcomes of the negotiations that the parents undertake do not reflect a new, radical kind of family on the whole, but often a traditional sense of family that sometimes gets more broadly defined to include a supportive network of family and friends. The discursive micro-shifts in definition that these parents perform inform our understanding of the bridge between local negotiations and global shifts in ideology. / text

Thesis advisor: Bernard O'Brien / This study investigated factors which influenced the stability of long-term relationships among twelve lesbian couples who had been together for at least fifteen years and reared children. A retrospective, semi-structured interview was used and each participant was interviewed separately. Themes related to relationship stability were identified prior to the interview and operationalized through the interview questions. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 1996. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental Psychology, and Research Methods.

This purpose of this study was fivefold: a)to examine the relationship between participants' reported number of positive lesbian and/or gay relationship role models their relationship outcomes (i.e., satisfaction, success, degree of closeness, and length of relationship); b) to explore the relationship between participants' level of internalized negative views of lesbian relationships and their own relationship outcomes; c) to investigate the relationship between participants' number of positive relationship role models and their level of internalized negative views of lesbian relationships; d) to examine whether participants who reported acceptance of negative stereotypes of lesbian relationships and had fewer role models also reported lower levels of interpersonal selfefficacy; e) and to investigate the relationship between participants' level of interpersonal self-efficacy and their relationship outcome (satisfaction, success, degree of closeness, and length of relationship). The study included 192 lesbian women (age 18-71 years; M = 30.6) who responded to five questionnaires: the Relationship Information Questionnaire, the Role Models Questionnaire, the Interpersonal Self-Efficacy Scale, the Internalized Negative Views of Lesbian Relationships Questionnaire, and a demographic information page. Results showed that there was no significant correlation between participants' reported number of role models and their relationship outcome (Hypothesis One). Similarly, the current study failed to find a relationship between participants' level of internalized of negative views of lesbian relationships and their own relationship outcomes (Hypothesis Two). In addition, there were no significant correlations between participants' number of positive relationship role models and their level internalized of negative views of lesbian relationships (Hypothesis Three). Furthermore, the correlation between role models and self-efficacy was not significant; however, there was a significant correlation between participants' self-efficacy and their level of internalized negative views of lesbian relationships (Hypothesis Four). The results indicated that participants' level of interpersonal self-efficacy is positively correlated with their relationship satisfaction, success, and degree of closeness. However, self-efficacy was unrelated to relationship length (Hypothesis Five). Possible explanations, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed. / Department of Psychological Science

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Everyday demands and hassles can elicit some form of stress upon the child rearing experience (Crnic & Lowe, 2002). Previous research using meta-analysis (Bos, van Balen & van den Boom, 2005) found that lesbian and heterosexual families are similar in nature with one important distinction, the stigmatization attached to their sexual orientation. Lesbian mothers are subjected to sexual stigma that other sexual minority individuals face, but in addition they experience stigma attached to the idealization of the nuclear family. As a consequence of this dual prejudice, moderators should be examined specifically for lesbian mothers to identify shared and possible unique factors for parenting stress. Based on the data collected for the present study, the current research supported the extensive literature documenting moderates of parenting stress in heterosexual mothers (social support, relationship satisfaction and life stressors). Moreover this study highlighted some of the unique and possible moderators of parental stress in the lesbian family dynamic (minority stress, and stigma perception). While doing this, the current research revealed some interesting inter-correlations that were not the primary area of investigation. In addition, the comparison of the respondents when designated into high and low scorers, gave the impression that the current study was heading in the right direction but needed additional participants to ensure that the hypotheses were correctly tested. Future research should aim to recruit a higher number of participants from various areas that may not have LGBT specific support. Moreover while utilizing an online questionnaire; steps should be taken to ensure that respondents do not become uninterested or fatigued while testing (e.g. shorten the survey).

Thesis (M.S.) in Human Development--University of Maine, 2008. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-70).