Defiant dads : fathers' rights activists in America / Jocelyn Elise Crowley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Crowley, Jocelyn Elise, 1970-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fathers--Legal status, laws, etc--United States.

Fathers.

Divorced fathers--Legal status, laws, etc--United States.

Divorced fathers.

Custody of children--United States.

Custody of children.

Child support--Law and legislation--United States.

Child support.

Self-help groups--United States.

Self-help groups.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (318 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

All across America, angry fathers are demanding rights. These men claim that since the breakdown of their own families, they have been deprived of access to their children. Joining together to form fathers' rights groups, the mostly white, middle-class men meet in small venues to speak their minds about the state of the American family and, more specifically, to talk about the problems they personally face, for which they blame current child support and child custody policies. Dissatisfied with these systems, fathers' rights groups advocate on behalf of legal reforms that will lower their child support payments and help them obtain automatic joint custody of their children. In Defiant Dads, Jocelyn Elise Crowley offers a balanced examination of these groups in order to understand why they object to the current child support and child custody systems; what their political agenda, if enacted, would mean for their members' children or children's mothers; and how well they deal with their members' interpersonal issues concerning their ex-partners and their role as parents. Based on interviews with more than 150 fathers' rights group leaders and members, as well as close observation of group meetings and analysis of their rhetoric and advocacy literature, this important book is the first extensive, in-depth account of the emergence of fathers' rights groups in the United States. A nuanced and timely look at an emerging social movement, Defiant Dads is a revealing investigation into the changing dynamics of both the American family and gender relations in American society.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

1. A Coming Revolution in Fathers' Rights?

2. The Origins of Fathers' Rights Groups in the United States

3. Membership Dynamics in Fathers' Rights Groups

4. Becoming the Chief: Patterns of Leadership and Governance in Fathers' Rights Groups

5. Money Changes Everything, or American Child Support Policy

6. The Custody Wars

7. Frayed Ties: Fathers' Relationships with Mothers

8. The Ties That Bind: Fathers' Relationships with Their Children

9. "Crooked Trees," Activism, and Healing in Dissolved Families

Appendix A. Research Methodology

Appendix B. Unstructured Interview Guide

Appendix C. No-Fault Divorce Legislation Dates, by State

Appendix D. Number, Rate, and Percent of Births to Unmarried Women and Birthrate for Married Women: United States, 1950-2003

References

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-8014-6012-3

OCLC:

726824353