Some pundits/lobbyists in our culture argue that women should do bulk of the child rearing because they, presumably, are the only sex with nurturing hormones (recent evidence suggest that men possess these as well). If only women carry the nurturing instinct (as these pundits suggest), then why do these same pundits argue that men are necessary to raise a child successfully?
So given the above, why is our culture against having 2 (presumably very nurturing) lesbian women raise a child (more than 50% of the public disapprove). Is having 2 opposite sex caregivers a necessity -- interestingly in many other species females exclusively raise the young? Some would argue that a man is necessary for male role modeling (esp. for sons), but is this just perpetuating outdated sex roles if we model what may have worked for our dads 30-40 years ago? Are gender roles more important than having a loving parent(s)?
Comments (1)
Parents have a large impact on their children’s lives. They teach them morals, values and hopefully how to one day become successful adults. However, in our culture people seem more concerned with the gender of the parents, rather than their ability to parent. There are enough bad “traditional” parents in our society, that I feel gender should no longer be an issue. If a lesbian couple wants to love and support a child they should be able to. The traditional gender roles have begun to meld together over the past fifty years. Women are no longer the only caregivers, and are beginning to take on more male roles. Therefore, I feel that being raised by two lesbians would offer the same role models and support that a heterosexual couple would provide.
Gender roles do not out way the possibility of loving parents. The traditional gender roles of the 1950’s do not need to be perpetuated by anyone. Children should be able to grow up without the confines of stereotypes. Any parents that are willing to love their children, regardless of the sexual preference, should be allowed to raise them
Posted by Brittany Bradshaw | May 24, 2007 3:13 PM
Posted on May 24, 2007 15:13