The marital relationship is almost completely changed with the arrival of the first baby. Mother has a new responsibility and a new toy to play with. Spontaneous sexual flirtations are seriously curtailed, usually confined to times when the baby is sleeping, or at the sitters. V. Androgyny Theory and Fatherhood . Once seen as opposite, mutually exclusive traits, cross-sex, or androgynous behaviors are now viewed as having taken the best attributes from masculine and feminine gender assignments.
Gender is now more or less seen as a continuum of characteristics.
Androgyny assumes the individual will interpret behavior demands without restricting themselves to helplessness in specific situations. Each period has associated developmental tasks - which if mastered contribute to a productive stage of development. As a system of interacting personalities, a family may undergo changes in its operating procedure. Changes in one family member's life always extends to changes in the lives of all other family members.