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.