cawacko
Well-known member
This was a headline in today's SF Chronicle. When I see the word 'never' that little b.s. detector in my head will often go off. It turns out this was a GLBT backed study that interview 78 kids. 78. Does a study like this do anything to advance the cause?
I have a gay Aunt and I love her and her partner dearly but they are both human. And humans f up (sometimes really badly) and unfortunately that seems to include beating kids. Are lesbians somehow immune from this? I have a hard time believing that.
Study: Lesbian mothers never abuse their children
New findings from a longterm study reveal that kids of lesbian moms are never abused and are more likely to identify as bisexual.
Researchers working on the longest-running study of American lesbian mothers and their children have have found that lesbian mothers physically or sexually abuse their children never, zero percent to be precise.
In contrast, 26 of American teens as a whole report physical abuse by a parent or caregiver, and 8.3 percent sexual abuse.
This might not seem entirely surprising when you consider that women in general are less likely to abuse children and lesbian mothers have to put a lot of planning, time, thought, and money into having a child.
The study authors said: "The absence of child abuse in lesbian mother families is particularly noteworthy, because victimization of children is pervasive and its consequences can be devastating. To the extent that our findings are replicated by other researchers, these reports from adolescents with lesbian mothers have implications for healthcare professionals, policymakers, social service agencies, and child protection experts who seek family models in which violence does not occur."
Of course you have to keep in mind that the sample size was small. Researchers interviewed only 78 children. They asked the 17-year-old sons and daughters of lesbian mothers about their sexual abuse, sexual orientation, and sexual behavior.
In terms of sexual orientation, 2.8 percent of the kids considered themselves predominantly to exclusively homosexual.
Jezebel reports:
The study did find that daughters of lesbian parents were more likely to report same-sex contact, and more likely to identify as bisexual, than the general population. This could just mean that daughters of lesbian moms were more open about their sexuality and less likely to keep their behavior or identification under wraps. But surely homophobes will point to the data as evidence that lesbian moms turn girls gay. Those girls might then grow up to become lesbian moms themselves, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle in which children are repeatedly not abused. Clearly it's time to panic.
The U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS) is in its 24th year at the the Williams Institute, a research center on sexual orientation law and public policy at UCLA School of Law.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=76922
I have a gay Aunt and I love her and her partner dearly but they are both human. And humans f up (sometimes really badly) and unfortunately that seems to include beating kids. Are lesbians somehow immune from this? I have a hard time believing that.
Study: Lesbian mothers never abuse their children
New findings from a longterm study reveal that kids of lesbian moms are never abused and are more likely to identify as bisexual.
Researchers working on the longest-running study of American lesbian mothers and their children have have found that lesbian mothers physically or sexually abuse their children never, zero percent to be precise.
In contrast, 26 of American teens as a whole report physical abuse by a parent or caregiver, and 8.3 percent sexual abuse.
This might not seem entirely surprising when you consider that women in general are less likely to abuse children and lesbian mothers have to put a lot of planning, time, thought, and money into having a child.
The study authors said: "The absence of child abuse in lesbian mother families is particularly noteworthy, because victimization of children is pervasive and its consequences can be devastating. To the extent that our findings are replicated by other researchers, these reports from adolescents with lesbian mothers have implications for healthcare professionals, policymakers, social service agencies, and child protection experts who seek family models in which violence does not occur."
Of course you have to keep in mind that the sample size was small. Researchers interviewed only 78 children. They asked the 17-year-old sons and daughters of lesbian mothers about their sexual abuse, sexual orientation, and sexual behavior.
In terms of sexual orientation, 2.8 percent of the kids considered themselves predominantly to exclusively homosexual.
Jezebel reports:
The study did find that daughters of lesbian parents were more likely to report same-sex contact, and more likely to identify as bisexual, than the general population. This could just mean that daughters of lesbian moms were more open about their sexuality and less likely to keep their behavior or identification under wraps. But surely homophobes will point to the data as evidence that lesbian moms turn girls gay. Those girls might then grow up to become lesbian moms themselves, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle in which children are repeatedly not abused. Clearly it's time to panic.
The U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS) is in its 24th year at the the Williams Institute, a research center on sexual orientation law and public policy at UCLA School of Law.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=76922
