FEMALES’ SEXUAL PREFERENCE: FATHERS. PERSONAL TRAITS AND IDENTIFICATION
Fathers’ personal traits
It is commonly supposed that a woman’s emotional and sexual interest in males is based in part on her original perception of her father as a worthwhile human being and an important member of the family. Thus, several investigators have attempted to determine the extent to which the fathers of homosexual women possess particularly unattractive personal traits of one kind or another.
Identification with father
It has been suggested that the fathers of prehomosexual girls tend to devalue their daughters’ femininity and that, as a result, the daughters attempt to win their fathers’ approval by adopting more “masculine” ways. One study found that homosexual females identified with their fathers more than did heterosexual females. According to psychodynamic theory, such an identification would be “‘defensive,” reflecting a daughter’s deliberate rejection of her femininity in an attempt to “come through” for her father, whom she fears more than loves.
Comparing the reports of the homosexual and the heterosexual women, we found that the homosexual women presented a somewhat less-favorable picture of their fathers and of their relationships with them. The homosexual women described their fathers as having been colder and weaker and as more likely to be detached, hostile, rejecting, or unfair toward them. Even so, the path analysis indicates that these unfortunate relationships cannot be seen as having much connection to the daughter’s eventual sexual preference. The homosexual women also seem to have identified less with their fathers than did the heterosexual women, but that does not seem to have played any significant role in their becoming homosexual.
We found no evidence that homosexuality in females results from an overly close father-daughter relationship that may “masculinize” the daughter or else keep her too involved with her father to be interested in males her own age.
It appears, then, that paternal relationships, traits, or identification should not be construed as critical factors in the development of female homosexuality.
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