THE GOOD-ENOUGH FATHER OF WHATEVER SEX

Political focus on the family, especially lone-parent families, puts p sychoanalytic developmental psychology at the centre of public debate. This article argues that there are no inevitable negative psychologic al consequences of lone parenthood or parenting carried out by two or more persons of the same sex. It introduces two new concepts/images to clarify the issues: 'the good-enough father' and 'the father of whate ver sex'. These concepts/images enable us to address two linked issues : the 'lone mother question' and the 'crisis in fatherhood question'. The author's previous work on fathering and on the psychology of conte mporary Western politics is employed as the basis for a political chal lenge to most psychoanalytic accounts of the father-child relationship as well as to conventional political wisdom about the family.