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Supporting Young Men as Fathers pp 9–23Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Social Portrayals of Young Men who are Fathers

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Abstract

Young men who are fathers are often demonised and vilified in social narratives. The persistence of ideas that young men are ‘feckless’ or ‘errant’ serves to exclude them from being seen as responsible and engaged parents. Whilst stigma does exist for young women, young men often face a double bind as a result of their youth and masculinity. Negative portrayals of young men exclude them from parenthood and reinforce parenting as a site of young women’s labour which is detrimental to both and often leaves young men unsupported in their journeys to fatherhood. Most young men want to be involved fathers and whilst their pregnancies are not often planned, many articulate parenthood as a turning point or redemption in their young lives.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The choice to predominantly use the phrase ‘young men as fathers’ or ‘young men who are fathers’ rather than ‘young fathers’ within this book reflects resistance to negative perceptions and portrayals of such young men. ‘Young fathers’ separates young men who have children from other ‘fathers’, potentially further ‘othering’ them in a context in which they already are likely to be othered by wider social discourses. Language remains of significant importance in the labelling of different groups of people and careful and considered use of language should be adopted by academics and practitioners when working with young people who are parents.

  2. 2.

    Tacit evidence from other research being conducted with young men in the North-East of England suggests that young men feel very reluctant to leave the house with their children for fear of being involved in violence and are concerned about how to protect their children if such a situation arose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Health Promotion Research, Leeds, UK

    Esmée Hanna

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  1. Esmée Hanna
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Hanna, E. (2018). Social Portrayals of Young Men who are Fathers. In: Supporting Young Men as Fathers. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71480-6_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71480-6_2

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71479-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71480-6

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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