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Absolutely No - As in Zero - Cases of Abuse Reported in Lesbian Families
Filed under: Gay Parenting, In The News, Research Reveals: Teens
Lesbian moms don't beat their kids, and they don't make their children gay. Credit: Ryan Anson/AFP/Getty Images
In fact, try zero.
As in none. As in zip. As in fuggedaboutit. As in problem solved, let's have some cake.
That's even more amazing when you consider national statistics that say a new case of child abuse is reported every 10 seconds, and almost five children die every day as a result of abuse.
How do we know lesbians don't beat or molest their kids?
Researchers for the Williams Institute, a research center on sexual orientation law and public policy at the UCLA School of Law, have been studying lesbian families for 24 years now.
Their U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study is the longest ever conducted.
In a report to be published this week in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, researchers will present what they found after interviewing the 17-year-old sons and daughters of lesbians about sexual abuse, sexual orientation and sexual behavior.
None of the 78 teens interviewed said they were ever physically or sexually assaulted by their parents. Compare that with more than a fourth (26 percent) of American teens who report being beaten by a parent or guardian. Another 8.3 percent report being sexually molested.
"The absence of child abuse in lesbian mother families is particularly noteworthy, because victimization of children is pervasive and its consequences can be devastating," researchers say in a UCLA press release. "To the extent that our findings are replicated by other researchers, these reports from adolescents with lesbian mothers have implications for health care professionals, policymakers, social service agencies and child protection experts who seek family models in which violence does not occur."
Sure, you can almost hear conservative critics say, but having lesbian parents leads to girls wearing really bad mullets and boys listening to Broadway show tunes. In other words, gay is contagious.
Not so much. Researchers in the same study found only 2.8 percent of kids raised by lesbians identify themselves as homosexual. That's about the same percent of homosexuals in the overall population.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
11-11-2010 @ 5:35PM
Alicia said...The last part is a "no sh*t sherlock" moment, but the rest is fascinating. I always figured children in gay and lesbian households had to have lower instances of abuse because they had to be badly wanted in order to be part of the family. However, 78 is a very low number to study.
Reply
11-13-2010 @ 5:52PM
Sandyone said...Actually, child abuse knows no boundaries. It crosses all socio-economic, religious and racial lines. Naturally born or adopted...doesn't matter...still plenty of child abuse. How badly the child was wanted is little protection. Sometimes, children become 'possessions' because they were so wanted.
11-15-2010 @ 10:27AM
Bree said...No not yet. It would be STUPID not to expect it eventually. Abuse arises in any situation. Get kids stuff free from Http://bit.ly/FreebieHomepage
11-11-2010 @ 6:17PM
Vivian Farmery said...I work in this field...I've been a social worker for 20 years, and I run a 4 year old nonprofit called Just Tell -- JustTell.org --which helps kids who are being sexually abused. While I am all for gay and lesbian parents being able to serve as foster, and adoptive, parents, I just need to let you know that I have known several kids who were sexually abused by gay or lesbian parents, one each by a lesbian adoptive or foster mothers. That's still FAR lower than the number of kids I know who were molested by straight parents, but...it DOES happen. This study had too small a sample number to be meaningful.
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11-14-2010 @ 10:23AM
David said...Bull-sh-t
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