Abstract
This article suggests that it is important for family therapists to be attuned to the struggles families are experiencing in relation to their changing sex role mores. Traditional ideas about what is feminine and masculine still exist while new realities with new values are emerging. Although one would expect the family therapy literature to be discussing and clarifying the implications of sex role shifts for individuals within the family and for the family as a whole, it has been surprisingly silent. This article reviews the concept of sex roles and discusses it from the perspective of the dichotomization of gender. Object relations theory is suggested as a framework by which sex role differentiation and particularly its more polarized aspect can be understood.
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Reference Note
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This article was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the certificate in Family Therapy, Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, MA, 1979.
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Joslyn, B.E. Shifting sex roles: The silence of the family therapy literature. Clin Soc Work J 10, 39–51 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00759871
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00759871