Lesbians Choosing Children

This paper examines the effects of oppression on the family building process of lesbians having children, either through birth or adoption. Family therapy theory and practices that attempt to address these dynamics by privileging the narratives of the oppressed are explored. More recent narrative based practices that emphasize the externalization of the problem as a route to increased empowerment for oppressed people are presented, along with the strengths and limitations of this type of work for lesbians forming families. Clinical examples provide a clearer sense of the lived life of lesbians and their children within a society that is generally misogynist and homophobic.