On Intimate Terms by Beverly Burch

On Intimate Terms

The Psychology of Difference in Lesbian Relationships

Beverly Burch

Complementarity is the essence of love, according to this analysis, which primarily explores lesbian relationships but examines heterosexual and gay relationships as well. Burch, a Berkeley, Calif., psychoanalyst, argues that some behavioral mechanisms both help bind people and help them grow: trying to see oneself as one’s beloved sees one, for example, or projecting one’s ‘disowned’ impulses onto one’s partner. She bases her findings on interviews with lesbian couples; she includes many eloquent quotations from these. In her view, a fundamental polarity governs lesbian relationships: the pairing of ‘primary lesbians’ (those who have never had a relationship with a man) with bisexual women. She contends that differences in lesbian relationships are less apt to create conflict than in heterosexual relationships, for she believes women have a greater capacity to merge. Regardless of one’s sexual orientation, there is much to learn here about the nature of love and its unconscious determinants.

Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

‘Regardless of one’s sexual orientation, there is much to learn here about the nature of love and its unconscious determinants.’ Publishers Weekly ‘Very readable… A good treatment of the processes of sexual and gender identity and how they are affected by developmental, cultural and historical factors.’ H.L. Minton, Choice ‘Brings to the foreground the many sex-identity differences and gradations among us, and the similarities as well.’ Alice Molloy, Mama Bear News and Notes –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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