1. As more research is done on fathers and infants and as theories concerning "stages" in general become more questionable (see Chapter 4), this distinction may become less meaningful. But those who employ psychoanalytic categories assume that the oedipal period initiates the significance of father for children of both sexes. In truth the father's salience in matters pertaining to sexuality seems to occur over and over from infancy to maturity and beyond. I have brought together the research on this in the following articles: M. Johnson, "Sex Role Learning in Nuclear Family," "Fathers, Mothers, and Sex Typing," "Heterosexuality, Male Dominance, and Father Image," and "Fathers and 'Femininity' in Daughters."

2. Without explicitly mentioning male dominance, Maccoby and Jacklin observe that the mother-son relationship is not the prototype of adult male-female relations (note the shift in which gender comes first), commenting that "clearly there are instances in which the role demands of parenthood (especially motherhood) are not consistent with habitual male-female interaction patterns" (Psychology of Sex Differences, p. 306).

3. Moscovici, Society Against Nature.

4. For a summary, see Deaux, "A Decade's Research on Gender."

5. Radin, "Childrearing Fathers in Intact Families," part 1.

6. For fathers feeling more responsibility toward male children, see Gilbert, Hanson, and Davis, "Parental Role Responsibilities," and Fagot, "Influence of Sex of Child." For fathers' preference for male offspring, see Hoffman, "Changes in Family Roles." For divorced fathers' greater tendency to maintain contact with sons, see Hetherington, "Divorce: A Child's Perspective."

7. Margolin and Patterson, "Differential Consequences."

8. For differences in punishment, see Finkelhor, "Sexual Climate in Families." For mothers' punishment styles, see Bronfenbrenner, "Familial Antecedents."

9. For a summary of the father-infant research, see Parke and Tinsley, "Father's Role in Infancy"; Pederson, ed., Father-Infant Relationship ; continue

Parke, Fathers ; and Ricks, "Father-Infant Interactions." Specifically, for the tendency of fathers, in contrast to mothers, to withdraw from daughters, see M. Lamb and J. Lamb, "Father-Infant Relationship."

10. C. Hoffman et al., "Comparison of Interactions."

11. For a comparison of gender-stereotyped attitudes, see J. Rubin, Provenzano, and Luria, "Eye of Beholder." For a comparison of encouragement of gender-stereotyped toys and play, see Fagot, "Influence of Sex of Child." See also Langlois and Downs, "Mothers, Fathers, and Peers."

A study designed to determine whether or not fathers treated infants differentially found they did so with regard to physical closeness and discipline and control with twelve-month-old infants (Snow, Jacklin, and Maccoby, "Sex-of-Child Differences").

While most of the studies I am describing refer to the father's behavior, I do not mean to imply that fathers cause differentiation. Male and female infants may in fact be different and their differences in preferences may be able to be reinforced positively or negatively. What psychologists are trying to measure in individuals are often pale reflections of social structural phenomena relating to gender and generation, which cannot be captured when one uses gender-neutral measures.

12. A. Heilbrun, Human Sex Role Behavior, pp. 161-62.

13. For studies showing greater paternal differentiation, see Jeanne Block, "Conceptions of Sex Role." For differentiation in teaching situations, see Jeanne Block, "Socialization Influences on Personality Development," and "The Pinks and the Blues." For study on parents of toddler children, see Fagot, "Influence of Sex of Child." For fathers' tendency to comfort daughters, see Rothbart and Maccoby, "Parents' Differential Reactions." For fathers' tendency to protect daughters from failure, see Osofsky and O'Connell, "Parent-Child Interaction."

14. Radin, "Role of the Father."

15. Goodenough, "Interest in Persons."

16. Bronstein, "Mothers' and Fathers' Behaviors."

17. McBroom, "Parental Relationships."

18. Bacon and Ashmore, "Mothers and Fathers Categorize Descriptions."

19. Jack Block, Von der Lippe, and Jeanne Block, "Sex Role and Socialization Patterns."

20. Kohlberg and Zigler, "Impact of Cognitive Maturity."

21. Kundsin, ed., Women and Success .

22. Contratto, "Father's Presence."

23. Droppleman and Schaefer, "Boys' and Girls' Reports," and Elder and Bowerman, "Family Structure and Child-Rearing Patterns." break

24. A. Parsons, "Oedipus Complex."

25. Roberts, Kline, and Gagnon, Family Life and Sexual Learning, Vol. 1. See also Kaats and Davis, "Sexual Behavior of College Students."

26. I thank Benton Johnson for making the questionnaires available to me for this analysis. The original research is described in Langford, "Religion and Occupational Choice."

27. For research on touch, see Jourard and Robin, "Self-Disclosure and Touching." For the study on physical affection between parents and children, see Barber and Thomas, "Fathers' and Mothers' Supportive Behavior."

28. Finkelhor, "Sexual Climate in Families."

29. Parke and Sawin, "Children's Privacy."

30. Kanin, "Date Rapists," especially p. 227.

31. Goodenough, "Interest in Persons."

32. Ehrensaft, "Dual Parenting," p. 326.

33. Burlingham, "Preoedipal Infant-Father Relationship."

34. It is, of course, misleading to apply the terms homosexual and heterosexual to individuals, because it implies that there are two distinct types of people. Alan Bell, one of the authors of the book under discussion, in an earlier article, "Research in Homosexuality," discussed the myriad ways in which homosexuals differ from one another sexually, not to mention nonsexually. More recently Robert Stoller has affirmed this diversity even more strongly to the point of saying that there is no such thing as homosexuality: "There are the homosexualities and they are as varied in etiology, dynamics, and appearance as the heterosexualities." See the chapter "Psychoanalytic 'Research' on Homosexuality" in Observing the Erotic Imagination, especially pp. 171-72. For the purposes of this study, however, the researchers agreed on a procedure based on both feelings and behaviors, which divided the sample into clearly differentiated groups.

35. Bell, Weinberg, and Hammersmith, Sexual Preference, p. 190.

36. Bell, Weinberg, and Hammersmith, Sexual Preference, pp. 188 and 189.

37. M. Johnson, "Heterosexuality, Male Dominance, and Father Image."

38. Bene, "Genesis of Male Homosexuality," especially p. 812. Regarding Bene's distinction, although being married is no guarantee that the individual is heterosexual, it is reasonable to assume that he is heterosexual or bisexual.

39. Apperson and McAdoo, "Parental Factors in Childhood of Homosexuals"; Stephan, "Parental Relationships and Early Social Experiences"; continue

Saghir and Robins, Male and Female Homosexuality ; and Evans, "Childhood Parental Relationships."

40. Bell, Weinberg, and Hammersmith, Sexual Preference, p. 44.

41. Ibid.; see path diagram for white males in appendix.

40. Bell, Weinberg, and Hammersmith, Sexual Preference, p. 44.

41. Ibid.; see path diagram for white males in appendix.

42. Stoller, Sex and Gender, Vol. 2.

43. Kaye et al., "Homosexuality in Women." These researchers found, contrary to their expectations, that the mothers of the lesbians did not differ markedly from their counterparts in the control group. The authors report, however, "When we turn to the fathers . . . we find a significantly contrasting picture, for they seem to be an alien breed in contrast to the control fathers" (p. 629). See also Saghir and Robins, Male and Female Homosexuality .

44. Wolff, Love Between Women . Bene, "Genesis of Female Homosexuality." Loney, "Family Dynamics in Homosexual Women"; Thompson et al., "Parent-Child Relationships and Sexual Identity"; and M. Johnson et al., "Women's Perceptions of Parents."

45. Bell, Weinberg, and Hammersmith, Sexual Preference . See path analysis for white females in the Appendix. The data do not show that "inadequate" fathers cause lesbianism but may indicate instead that lesbians view their fathers as inadequate.

46. For further discussion of parental identification and girls, see M. Johnson, "Sex Role Learning in Nuclear Family," and A. Heilbrun, Human Sex Role Behavior, pp. 132-66.

47. Bell, Weinberg, and Hammersmith, Sexual Preference, pp. 136-37.

48. Bene, "Genesis of Female Homosexuality," especially p. 133. Wolff, Love Between Women .

49. Conversation with Marilyn Frye, 1985.

50. Bell, Weinberg, and Hammersmith, Sexual Preference, p. 183.

51. This is the stance taken in Chafetz, et al., Who's Queer?

52. Harry, Gay Children Grown Up .

53. M. Johnson, "Sex Role Learning in Nuclear Family."

54. Winch, "Oedipus Hypothesis."

55. Alfred Heilbrun, in Human Sex Role Behavior, reports that "within the nuclear family configuration, a daughter's primary identification with a stereotypically masculine father has been found to correlate positively with adjustment with femininity and curiously with depression in the daughter." Perhaps the depression is a response to being a well-adjusted girl in a male-dominant society. break