ABSTRACT
Lesbian mothers occasionally gained the attention of the general public when they were involved in custody cases that received publicity, but such notoriety was infrequent and typically fleeting. When mothers are lesbians, however, the courts, reflecting popular views of homosexuality as "unnatural", tend to view them as morally flawed, and thus as unfit parents. The achievement of lesbian mothers would both counteract the notion that lesbianism and motherhood are inherently contradictory and, in fact, redefine and desexualize what it means to be a lesbian. Feminist scholars have most commonly applied the concept of resistance to studies of women in the work force. Becoming a mother is central to being able to claim to an identity as a "good" woman, drawn from one's association with children. The goals motherhood allows lesbians to enhance are, of course, no different from those heterosexual women describe for themselves. The search for cultures of resistance continues to be a vital dimension of feminist academic enterprise.
