The Masculine Principle in Lesbian Families: A Jungian Understanding

ABSTRACT

Using the concepts of individuation and masculine and feminine principles from Jungian psychology, the author explores the use of the masculine principle in parenting male children in families without an embodied father. The role of lesbian parents' own relationship with the masculine within themselves, features of the initiation process, and the function that team sports can play in a boy child's development are presented and examined. Lesbian parenting of sons is explored from both personal and professional perspectives.

KEYWORDS:

• Lesbian parenting
• androgyny
• Jungian psychology
• sons

Acknowledgments

AmyWeston, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist in private practice, and a Jungian psychoanalyst. She is a member of the Berkeley Psychotherapy Institute and the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, where she is on the teaching and supervising faculty. This article is a revision of a panel presentation on Homosexuality and the Archetype of the Father, given in June 2005 at the San Francisco Jung Institute.