Intimicay, Dependency, and Fusion in Lesbian Relationships

J. Mencher

Text of a lecture given in the Colloquium Series, February 7, 1990. Abstract: A discussion of the relational perspective's definitions of the features of a healthy relationship suggests that if we identify norms for relational structures which are based on women's developmental experience, then the features of lesbian relationships that have been described as fusion -e.g., intense intimacy, acute sensitivity to the inner world of the other, and the embeddedness of individual identity within the relationship- lose their negative connotation. The suggestion here is that the lesbian pattern may explicate women's relational patterns in general.