A balanced examination of fathers' rights groups that explores why they object to the current child support and child custody systems and what their political agenda would mean for their members' children or children's mothers.
This book makes a unique contribution to contemporary research into masculinities, men’s movements, and fathers’ rights groups. It examines the role of changing masculinities in creating equality and/or reinforcing inequality by analysing diverse men’s movements, their politics, and the identities they (re)construct. Jordan advances a typology for categorising men’s movements (‘feminist', ‘postfeminist', and ‘backlash’ movements) and addresses debates over the construction of ‘masculinity-in-crisis’, arguing that ‘crisis’ is frequently invoked in problematic ways. These themes are further explored through original analyses of material produced by ‘feminist’, ‘postfeminist’, and ‘backlash’ men’s groups. The main empirical contribution of the book draws on interviews with fathers’ rights activists to explore the (gendered) implications of the ‘new’ politics of fatherhood. The nuanced examination of fathers’ rights perspectives reveals multiple, complex narratives of masculinity, fatherhood, and gender politics. The cumulative effect of these is, at best, postfeminist and depoliticising, and, at worst, another vitriolic ‘backlash’. The New Politics of Fatherhood expands scholarly understandings of gender, masculinities, and social movements in the under-researched UK context, and will appeal to readers with interests in these areas.
You read the pregnancy books, the nine months flew by without a hitch, the birth was brilliant and your healthy baby arrived on schedule. Job done, right? Often, the birth of your baby can feel like the end of the journey but really the adventure has only just begun. If you look down at you-junior, heart swelling with pride, then think 'What now?', this book is for you. In this essential guide for new dads, Rob Kemp - the bestselling author of The Expectant Dad's Survival Guide - reveals what to expect in the first 18 months, arming you with the tools you need to be a fantastic dad. Covering everything from how to bond with your baby and support his development to practical issues, such as how to manage your working arrangements and finances, this book gives new dads the confidence, skills and knowledge to enjoy fatherhood - and do a brilliant job of it. Entertaining, informative, and packed full of expert advice, The New Dad's Survival Guide is the go-to guide for modern, hands-on dads.
There has been a widespread resurgence of rights talk in social and legal discourses pertaining to the regulation of family life, as well as an increase in the use of rights in family law cases, in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia. Rights, Gender and Family Law addresses the implications of these developments – and, in particular, the impact of rights-based approaches upon the idea of welfare and its practical application. There are now many areas of family law in which rights and welfare based approaches have been forced together. But whilst, to many, they are premised upon different ethics – respectively, of justice and of care – for others, they can nevertheless be reconciled. In this respect, a central concern is the 'gender-blind' character of rights-based approaches, and the ontological and practical consequences of their employment in the gendered context of the family. Rights, Gender and Family Law explores the tensions between rights-based and welfare-based approaches: explaining their differences and connections; considering whether, if at all, they are reconcilable; and addressing the extent to which they can advantage or disadvantage the interests of women, children and men. It may be that rights-based discourses will dominate family law, at least in the way that social policy and legislation respond to calls of equality of rights between mothers and fathers. This collection, however, argues that rights cannot be given centre-stage without thinking through the ramifications for gendered power-relations, and the welfare of children. It will be of interest to researchers and scholars working in the fields of family law, gender studies and social welfare.
Jackie Krasas traces the trajectories of mothers who have lost or ceded custody to an ex-partner. She argues that these noncustodial mothers' experiences should be understood within a greater web of gendered social institutions such as employment, education, health care, and legal systems that shapes the meanings of contemporary motherhood in the United States. If motherhood means "being there," then noncustodial mothers, through their absence, are seen as nonmothers. They are anti-mothers to be reviled. At the very least, these mothers serve as cautionary tales. Still a Mother questions the existence of an objective method for determining custody of children and challenges the "best-interests standard" through a feminist, reproductive justice lens. The stories of noncustodial mothers that Krasas relates shed light on marriage and divorce, caregiving, gender violence, and family court. Unfortunately, much of the contemporary discussion of child custody determination is dominated either by gender-neutral discussions, or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, by the idea that fathers are severely disadvantaged in custody disputes. As a result, the idea that mothers always receive custody has taken on the status of common sense. If this was true, as Krasas affirms, there would be no book to write.
This book presents the first published comprehensive overview and critical assessment of the relationship between law and masculinities. It provides a general introduction to the subject whilst engaging with the difficult question of what it means to speak of the masculinity of law in the first place.
A timely collection of sound research addresses father involvement in their children’s education. Promising Practices for Fathers’ Involvement in Their Children’s Education visits a less known side of parent involvement, the side of fathers’ active engagement with their children’s education in the home and that is less visible in the schools. Their contributions from preschool to career decision-making and accessibility to their children’s education are covered in ten chapters, focusing on in-depth research from Canada to Argentina and Korea to Africa.
This book brings together an international collection of researchers and practitioners from a range of fields--including sociology, social work, psychology, law, public health and medicine, and victims services and advocacy--to examine promising, innovative strategies and programs for preventing intimate partner violence (IPV). The interdisciplinary contributions both discuss findings from evaluations of current IPV prevention programs and identify gaps in knowledge, paying particular attention to the needs of underserved groups like racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants and refugees, and members of LGBTQ communities. Among the many issues addressed are primary prevention programs that target adolescents and young adults, strategies specifically designed to engage men and boys in IPV prevention, IPV screening in various settings, the impact of the criminalization of IPV on minority populations, restorative justice programs, interventions for women who use violence, and innovative shelter programming to prevent revictimization. Uniting the major themes examined throughout the book, the concluding chapter delineates paths to more effective prevention strategies by highlighting ways that all stakeholders can work more effectively toward reducing violence.