Based on a male-derived model which views separation as the cornerstone of healthy development, the concept of fusion has been noted and pathologized in the literature on lesbian relationships. This paper will reexamine the relational patterns of lesbian couples within a perspective more attuned to female development which views connection as vital to growth. As women whose relational preferenc...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether the social environment surrounding lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth may contribute to their higher rates of suicide attempts, controlling for individual-level risk factors. METHODS A total of 31 852 11th grade students (1413 [4.4%] lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals) in Oregon completed the Oregon Healthy Teens survey in 2006-2008. We created a composite ind...

BACKGROUND We herein present the initial experiences of the CEFER Institute of Reproduction in the formation of a new family model: two biological mothers, lesbians, one who provides the eggs and the other who carries the embryo in her womb. We have called this family model ROPA (Reception of Oocytes from PArtner). It is a pioneer event in Spain and among the first at a worldwide level. METHO...

[Element 1] Advertisements have become more risqué as companies vie for consumer attention in an over-saturated market. One such risqué approach is the use of “lesbian appeals”; appeals in which two female models are depicted interacting in a seemingly romantic or erotic manner. [Element 2] This study investigates the influence of lesbian appeals on consumer attitudes towards the advertisement ...

BACKGROUND Socially excluded populations have poorer access to care; however, little attention has been paid to lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or trans* people. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or trans* people are at increased risk of certain life-limiting illnesses and may not receive the care and support they need at the end of life and into bereavement. AIM To identify and appraise the evidence of ...

BACKGROUND The proportion of lesbian women who contract the human papilloma virus may reach 13% or even 21%; however, lesbian women were found to receive Pap smear tests less often or less regularly. AIM To explore factors influencing lesbian women to undergo Pap smear tests and to determine whether the Health Belief Model (HBM) is able to predict whether lesbian women would be willing to und...

There is now a considerable body of research exploring how culturally dominant gendered norms are implicated in mobilising girls‟ and women‟s „anorexic‟ and „bulimic‟ experiences and practices. However, much less is known about lesbian experiences of „eating disorders‟. This article explores some of those specificities. Drawing on interviews with self-identified lesbian women with a history of ...

Children of gay and lesbian parents are a diverse group, but existing studies offer limited information about individual differences in their social experiences and subsequent psychological outcomes. In this study, 91 adults reared by gay and lesbian parents responded to measures of recalled social experiences as well as current depressive symptoms, positive and negative affect, and life satisf...

This study explores how lesbian and heterosexual pre-adoptive couples experience and construct the transition from infertility to adoption as a means to becoming parents. Thirty lesbian couples and 30 heterosexual couples were interviewed about the challenges and benefits they perceived in attempting conception and then later choosing adoption. Although similarities in perspectives emerged betw...

In this study, we compared internalizing and externalizing problem behavior of 67 Dutch adolescents (M(age) = 16.04) in planned lesbian families who were matched with 67 adolescents in heterosexual-parent families. We also examined whether homophobic stigmatization was associated with problem behavior in adolescents with lesbian mothers after taking into account demographic characteristics, mot...