Ralph Greenson - Views On Homosexuality

Views On Homosexuality

In 1968 Ralph Greenson offered a developmental theory for homosexuality, which focuses on the need of boys to “dis-identify” from their mothers:

The male child, in order to attain a healthy sense of maleness, must replace the primary object of his identification, the mother, and must identify instead with the father. I believe it is the difficulties inherent in this additional step of development, from which girls are exempt, which are responsible for certain special problems in the man’s gender identity, his sense of belonging to the male sex. The male child’s ability to dis-identify will determine the success or failure of his later identification with his father.