Couples, Gender, and Power: Creating Change in Intimate Relationships

by Carmen Knudson-Martin PhD (Editor), Anne Rankin Mahoney PhD (Editor)

Overview

"[A] comprehensive, critical, empirical, and practical compilation of investigations about how diverse couples are trying to implement change and pursue equality in their relationships."

-Katherine R. Allen, PhD
Virginia Polytechnic Institute&State University

"[A] true gift to couple researchÖ.The studies reported in this marvelously disciplined collection hold living implications for couples and their therapists."

-Evan Imber-Black
Director, Center for Families and Health,
Ackerman Institute for the Family

While numerous couples strive for equality in their relationships, many are unaware of the insidious ways in which gender and power still affect them-from their career choices to communication patterns, child-rearing, housework, and more. Written for mental health professionals and others interested in contemporary couple relationships, this research-based book shows how couples are able to move beyond the dangers of gendered inequality and the legacy of hidden male power.

The book analyzes the relationships of couples from various racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The contributors present innovative clinical interventions, and suggest strategies therapists can use to help couples transform their relationships from being gender-based to equality-based.

Explores these key issues:

• The risks of being in a relationship ruled by "gender legacy" behavior
• The differences between couples who get caught in gender legacy patterns and those who do not
• Gender-based patterns across the life cycle, including newly formed couples; early marriage; child-rearing; mothering and fathering
• Gendered power in couples dealing with illness; ethnic and racial differences; immigration and displacement issues

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826117564
Publisher:	Springer Publishing Company
Publication date:	02/16/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	753,771
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Carmen Knudson-Martin is Professor and Director of the Ph.D. program in Marital and Family Therapy at Loma Linda University.

Anne Rankin Mahoneyis Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of Denver, where she also served three years as Director of Women's Studies.

Read an Excerpt

chapter

Table of Contents

"Introduction

Part I. How Gendered Power Undermines Relationships
Chapter 1 Gender Equality in Relationships
Chapter 2 The Social Context of Gendered Power
Chapter 3 Capturing the Lived Experience of Couples: Our Research Process

Part II. Intimacy, Gender, and Power
Chapter 4 The Myth of Equality
Chapter 5 Beyond Gender: The Processes of Relationship Equality
Chapter 6 Carrying Equal Weight: Attunement and Responsibility Among Same Sex Couples
Chapter 7 An Unequal Burden: Gendered Power in Diabetes Care

Part III. Gendered Power and Parenting
Chapter 8 Mothering: Innate Talent or Conscious Collaboration
Chapter 9 Fathering: Disengagement or Responsiveness
Chapter 10 Suffering in Silence: Idealized Motherhood and Postpartum Depression

Part IV. Transforming Power in Cultural Contexts
Chapter 11 We-Consciousness: Creating Equality in Collectivist Culture
Chapter 12 Pulling Together: African American Couples Manage Social Inequalities
Chapter 13 Pushing the Gender Line: How Immigrant Couples Reconstruct Power
Chapter 14 Keeping the Peace: Couple Relationships in Iran
Chapter 15 Gender Discourse in Relationship Stories of Young Americans

Part IV: The Practice of Transcending Gendered Power
Chapter 16 Relational Orientations: A Contextual Framework for Assessment and Practice
Chapter 17 Addressing Gendered Power: A Guide for Practice
Chapter 18 Gender and Power as a Fulcrum for Clinical Change
"