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While many theorists believe that a girl’s relationship with her mother is more relevant to the development of sexual orientation than her rela­tionship with her father, the latter has also been considered a contribu­ting factor. These theorists hold that a girl is most likely to develop a heterosexual orientation when she believes her father loves her, is pleased that she is a girl, and is affectionate toward her in a way that is not seductive.

To elaborate this view more fully, a warm relationship between a girl and her father is thought to enhance the daughter’s self-esteem and, at the same time, to provide her with a positive attitude toward males in general. A father’s delight in having a daughter is thought to encourage the daughter to accept her female status and thus to solidify her gender identity; one result, according to this line of reasoning, is that she seeks complementary relationships with persons of the opposite sex. The ab­sence of such a relationship with one’s father has been thought to encourage the development of homosexuality in females. Instead of hav­ing a warm and loving relationship with her father, it has been suggested, the prehomosexual girl is more likely to feel rejected by him and thus to anticipate a similar rejection from other males.

Several studies have described the fathers of homosexual females as emotionally withdrawn from their daughters and from other members of the household. Other investigators have found that homosexual women were more likely than heterosexual women to have had antagonistic relationships with their fathers during childhood and adolescence or to have had fathers who were sadistic toward them. One study found that homosexual females felt accepted by their fathers only when they acted like sons. In still other studies, homosexual females were more likely than heterosexual females to re­port feelings of fear or hostility toward their fathers. Another study associated a hostile and exploitative father with female homosexuality.

Finally, a father who is physically affectionate with his daughter dur­ing childhood, and who does not stop being so when she reaches puber­ty, is thought to encourage her to accept her sexuality as an integral part of herself. According to psychoanalytic theory, as long as her father is not especially seductive, the girl will eventually repress her sexual desire for him and transfer her erotic interests to other males. It has been thought that a girl in a "seductive" father-daughter relationship may shun heterosexual contacts because they imply an emotional abandon­ment of her father or, on the other hand, because they seem too "inces­tuous." In this regard, in a study in which psychiatrists were asked to describe the fathers of their homosexual female patients, they por­trayed the fathers as having been overly possessive of their daughters and sexually interested in them. In this way, it was concluded, the fathers inhibited normal heterosexual development in their daughters. They were also described as having discouraged their daughters from "growing up"; these researchers suggested that the daughters thus tended to withdraw from relationships with other males in order to re­main "Daddy’s little girl."

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Over-the-counter methods for women are reversible barrier methods of birth control. They include:

• contraceptive foams

• contraceptive creams

• contraceptive jellies

• contraceptive films

• contraceptive suppository capsules

• vaginal pouches (female condoms)

If you choose one of the over-the-counter methods for women, you will insert it deep into the vagina before intercourse. Foams, creams, jellies, films, and suppositories are liquids or solids that melt after they are inserted. They contain chemicals that immobilize sperm (spermicide).

Vaginal pouches are polyurethane sheaths with flexible rings at each end. The pouch is inserted deep into the vagina like a diaphragm. The ring at the closed end holds the pouch in the vagina. The ring at the open end stays outside the vaginal opening.

How Over-the-Counter Methods for Women Work

Contraceptive foams block the entrance to the uterus with bubbles and contain a spermicide that immobilizes sperm, preventing it from joining with the egg.

Contraceptive creams, jellies, films, and suppositories melt into a thick liquid throughout the vagina. They block the entrance to the uterus and contain spermicide that immobilizes sperm.

Vaginal pouches collect semen before, during, and after ejaculation and keep sperm from entering the vagina.

Advantages of Over-the-Counter Methods for Women

• All are easy to buy in drugstores and some supermarkets.

• Prescriptions or fittings are unnecessary.

• Once learned, insertion is easy and may be done by your part­ner as part of sex play.

Vaginal pouches allow women to take responsibility for protection against sexually transmitted infections.

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Mothers’ personal traits

In keeping with the usual view that prehomosexual females are likely to have relatively unfavorable relationships with their mothers, it is fre­quently assumed that such girls tend to have negative perceptions of their mothers during the time they are growing up. Their mothers have been portrayed as unhappy over their female status, resentful of their roles as wives and mothers, and as either inadequate or domineering individuals whose distasteful personalities are responsible for predicta­bly negative relationships with their daughters. In one study the mothers of homosexual females have been described as inadequate, and in two others as domineering and hostile. Thus, we considered whether the homosexual and heterosexual respondents differed in the ways they described their mothers’ personal traits and the extent to which such perceptions might affect the development of their sexual orientation.

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How Diaphragms and Cervical Caps Are Used

Diaphragms and cervical caps are inserted deep into the vagina before intercourse and positioned to cover the cervix. The right size must be prescribed for a proper fit. You will be shown how to put it in and take it out. Always use contraceptive cream or jelly when you insert your diaphragm or cervical cap. They must be in place every time you have sex. Leave in place for at least eight hours after the last sexual intercourse.

Women should not douche while a diaphragm or cervical cap is in place.

The diaphragm should be checked every year or two and after a weight loss or gain of 10 or more pounds to see if it is still the right size.

From time to time, the diaphragm or cervical cap should be checked for weak spots or pinholes by holding it up to a light.

Because the cap may become dislodged, women should check before and after intercourse to see if it is properly positioned.

Warning signs

Tell your clinician if:

• you or your partner have any discomfort when it is in place

• you have problems keeping it in place

• you have irritation or itching in the genital area

• you have frequent bladder infections

• you have burning sensations while urinating

• you have an unusual discharge from the vagina

How to Get Diaphragms and Cervical Caps and What They Cost

Visit your local Planned Parenthood health center, a family planning clinic, your HMO, or a private doctor for a prescription. Diaphragms and cervical caps may be purchased at a drugstore or clinic. An examination costs from $50 to $125. Diaphragms average from $13 to $25. Cervical caps are similarly priced. Diaphragms and cervical caps may cost less at family planning clinics. Contraceptive jelly or cream costs from about $4 to $18 a kit. These costs are cov­ered by Medicaid.

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According to classic psychoanalytic theory, the sexual orientation of a female is largely determined by the way she copes with childhood an­tagonism toward her mother. In this theory, a young girl feels that her mother has shortchanged her by not providing her with a penis and de­values her mother because she, too, lacks a penis. Further, the daughter is thought to be jealous of the affection her mother receives from her father, wishes to supplant her mother in his eyes, and at the same time fears that as a result of this rivalry her mother might abandon her. Ac­cording to this view, the young girl eventually represses both her erotic feelings toward her father and her wish to take over her mother’s privileged position with him. Instead, it is thought, she comes to identify with her mother and begins to anticipate personal fulfillment through a rewarding relationship with a male (whom some theorists see as a father-substitute). In her attachment to this more-eligible male, accord­ing to psychoanalytic theory, the woman vicariously acquires a penis, and when she gives birth to a child—ideally a son—this important quest finally comes to an end.

Since it is supposed that the transition just described is most likely to occur within the context of a mother-daughter relationship characterized by warmth and a mutual respect, many theorists portray homosexuality in females as resulting in large part from an unloving mother-daughter relationship. According to this view, a female’s homosexuality repre­sents an unconscious effort to obtain from other women the love and understanding she wanted but did not receive from her mother; thus her homosexual partners are viewed as mother-substitutes from whom she seeks maternal nurturance.

Numerous empirical studies have found a tendency for homosexual women to have had poorer relationships with their mothers than did het­erosexual women. The mothers of homosexual women have also been described as overburdened with responsibilities and unable to establish rapport with their daughters; the daughters, in turn, have been described as feeling unloved, unwanted, and neglected. Another report describes the mothers of adolescent lesbians as openly resentful and jealous of their daughters.

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