Walter R Schumm PhD
Autor(a) de Same-Sex Parenting Research: A Critical Assessment
Obras de Walter R Schumm PhD
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Also for reasons best kept to myself, I feel like it is one I have to write. I promised myself once that I would never read a book I wasn't comfortable putting up in public here and, possibly too heavily influenced by Jane Eyre, I'm going to try to keep that promise.
I do not identify as LGBTQ. However, and this is a small however, I do know what it's like to be attracted to people who are not attracted to you. I know what it's like to have people attracted to you that, for whatever reason, are unattractive to you. And, this is a little bit bigger of an "and," I once had the [mis?]fortunate experience of talking with someone who thought(for various reasons) that I was LGBTQ, and who also thought that such an attraction was a "fate worse that death" (my summary of the sentiments expressed at that meeting). Though I offered no interest in their opinion, I was treated to their idea of potential solutions. I'm still speechless when I relive the emotions and thoughts expressed by that person---and remember how they tried to make me feel. But it opened up my eyes to how people who identify as LGBTQ are treated by others. So have subsequent conversations with people that I have been privileged to know. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm walking a very fine line.
Because I also care about children. We care about the marginalized and members of minority groups because it's harder for their voices to be heard. Children, especially young children, in my mind are a part of those groups and their well-being can be metaphorically sacrificed for the comfort/happiness of others. One of my earliest memories is from when I was 4 years old and a 60 year-old man is yelling at me. I can still feel my posture hunching back into the stairs that I was sitting on and see how big he is, compared to my small self. I still remember the panic, the anxiety, the fear... the flooded feeling. My brain couldn't even process the words I needed to tell my parents, as they rushed to me, what had happened. They heard it all through his point of view from a voice that continued to be elevated for, what seemed like, forever. Now I think, and his book largely supports me, that little of this sort of abuse happens in same-sex parenting, but all of this is to say that I wanted to know what the research says and here are my thoughts on Shumm's book.
1. He makes some good points. Some of our data is based on government records which treat all households with adult members of the same sex as same-sex couples. Under this classification roommates, a pair of sisters, a woman living with a widowed daughter-in-law could be classified and studied as same-sex couples(there's a reason they used that classification). This could both hurt and help the studies. We don't know. He makes a compelling argument for asking for sexual orientation/relation on government surveys, censuses, etc. Similarly, studies that look at children of same-sex parents often ignore the other parental figures in the picture(the birth father/mother, ex-partners that may be of a different sex). In many studies the average combined salaries/year was $180,000. To get the whole picture, he suggests and I agree, it would be good to look at a variety of couples from all economic backgrounds. I'm also curious about race--- did they just look at a majority of white couples? It was never mentioned but I feel like it should have been. Theories should be based on numbers. I have read too many books by psychologists who share numerous tales of success and claim that their method "works" but don't have any numbers.
2. He freely admits his biases, quotes his critics, and his reasoning behind the evolution of marriage to (historically) be between a man and a woman is unique, to say the least. I was in awe of his devotion to science and his personal integrity. There were times, and some are traceable, when the conservative right wanted him to say things that just weren't proved by scientific studies and so he was dismissed as a witness from certain court cases. I find that admirable.
3. If we want good research, the numbers/data and studies must be largely accessible, and that includes the tone. There are some datasets that are behind paywalls of $20,000 (he says). This make the studies hard to verify, check for duplicate-able numbers, etc. (Remember, if it's a science then you should be able to duplicate the results---I don't see why we shouldn't hold them to the same standard that medicine is held to).
A friend wrote something that I think applies here:
*
Finally, I am concerned about what we find within the pages. The staggering numbers regarding the sexual abuse of people who identify as LGBTQ are heartbreaking---and that word really isn't strong enough. It needs to stop, like 200 years ago would be soon enough.
And I am very much aware that the ideal isn't always possible. And studies like these can help us find ways to help with the gaps in the ideal. But scientific studies, as of the publishing of this book, still seem to support the idea that children thrive best when they are in a home with their birth parents, with a father and a mother, married to each other. If such studies should be widely disproved, I'm sure the author will publicly retract his book and statements. He seems like that kind of guy.
*Samuel Nicholes, Deseret News, Dec 31 2020… (mais)