Do Men Mother

Book excerpt: The second edition of Andrea Doucet's Do Men Mother? builds upon the award winning first edition to further illuminate fathers' candid reflections on caring and the intricate social worlds that men and women inhabit as they 'love and let go' of their children. Including interviews with over one hundred fathers - from truck drivers to insurance salesmen, physicians to artists - Doucet illustrates how men are breaking the mould of traditional parenting models. This edition expands her argument wider and deeper, building on changes to the theoretical work that informs the field, her own intellectual trajectory, and the fieldwork of revisiting six fathers and their partners a decade after her initial interviews. She continues to examine key questions such as: What leads fathers to trade earning for caring? How do fathers navigate through the 'maternal worlds' of mothers and infants? Are men mothering or are they redefining fatherhood? In asking and unravelling the question 'Do men mother?' this study tells a compelling story about Canadian parents radically re-envisioning child care and domestic responsibilities in the twenty-first century.