Laqueur's article complicates the concepts of motherhood and fatherhood. I found it interesting that he considers fathers to be "ideas" and mothers to be "fact" (Laqueur 207) - yet in his article he discusses the case of Mary K. vs. Jhordan C. in which fatherhood is legally imposed upon a lesbian couple - despite the obvious construction of a two-parent family unit, the law insisted upon inserting the biological father into the equation. On one hand one could argue that the authorities probably preferred to have Jhordan pay for childcare rather than partition welfare funds to the couple. On the other hand it appears that fatherhood is far more concrete and "factual" than Laqueur presents (where a male is not already existing in the picture, which further complicates matters taking in gender and sexuality biases [Laqueur 215-6]). Although not explicitly addressed in this article, it seems to indicate that motherhood and fatherhood are no longer (never were?) set structures, but rather fluid social constructs that are influenced by politics, culture and economic class; this suspicion is confirmed in Nicholson's article as she evaluates different types of "alternative families" (Nicholson 35-37). It seems again to return to the concept of "self" and "other" - a need for possession (in this case of the child) and the distinction of male/female roles by the heterosexual majority. Since the family structure is the elemental unit from which society presumably developed, it is interesting to see that the "relationship" of family as the "parent" and society as the "child" is reversed and society is now shaping the families...