Abstract

Chapters 5 and 6 critically examine backlash men's movements, especially fathers’ rights groups and the politics of fatherhood. Both chapters are based on in-depth, qualitative analysis of interviews with members of (Real) Fathers 4 Justice. Chapter 5 explores two of three masculinities identified: “bourgeois-rational”, and “new man/new father” masculinity. These map on to specific constructions of fatherhood: “the good enough father”, and the “nurturing father” respectively, which are also explored. “Progressive” notions of crisis were associated with new man/new father masculinity, which advances a vision of kinder masculinity (without fundamentally unsettling gender binaries). Finally, the presence of feminist and postfeminist understandings of gender/fatherhood in fathers’ rights perspective is considered. The analysis demonstrates that men’s movements frequently shift discursive strategies and express ambivalence about feminism.