Masculinizing Care? Gender, Ethics of Care, and Fathers’ Rights Groups

Abstract

This article contributes to theoretical debates around caring masculinity, especially attempts to integrate feminist ethics of care with masculinities scholarship. I apply ethics of care and masculinities theories to an illustrative case study of fathers’ rights group (FRG), (Real) Fathers 4 Justice, who, I argue, employ aspects of care perspectives framed as a “new man/new father” masculinity. Applying ethics of care to analyze caring masculinities demonstrates that men care and that caring masculinity can potentially destabilize dominant notions of masculinity. However, care is also coded masculine in complex, sometimes troubling, ways. The promise of masculinized care in the context of fathers’ rights is limited as, ultimately, gender binaries are reinforced more than they are rendered contingent. As well as contributing to analyses of the gender politics of FRGs, I argue that we should pay careful attention to the contexts within which caring masculinities may be strategically and problematically employed.

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