Essential Breakthroughs: Conversations about Men, Mothers and Mothering

by Fionna Joy Green

Overview

Essential Breakthroughs: Conversations About Men, Mothers, and Mothering thinks from the nexus of gender, essentialism, and care. The authors creatively blend the philosophical and the personal to collectively argue that while gender is essential to our social and theoretical definitions of care, it is dangerously co-opted into naturalized discourses, which limit particular identities and negate certain forms of care. The perspectives curated in Essential Breakthroughs illuminate how care, as a respected and productive cultural ethic, is neither inherent nor instinctual for any human, but is learned and fostered. The chapters are informed by feminist, queer, and trans politics, wielding post-structuralist methodologies of unlearning and deconstruction, while maintaining the maternal lens as a credible feminist analytical tool and not as a gender-essentialist practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781926452166
Publisher:	Demeter Press
Publication date:	11/01/2015
Pages:	249
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Fiona Joy Green, PhD, is a feminist mother who believes in the power of feminism in contributing to the agency of children and parents, and to revolutionizing mothering. She holds the positions of Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Associate Dean of Arts at the University of Winnipeg, is the author of Practicing Feminist Mothering, and co-editor of Maternal Pedagogies: In and Outside the Classroom, and Chasing Rainbows: Exploring Gender-Fluid Parenting Practices. Fiona’s currently exploring the issues of privacy related to Mommy Blogging. Gary Lee Pelletier is a Ph.D. candidate in the Gender, Feminist, and Women’s Studies Graduate Program at York University. His current research focuses on the intersection of queer negative affects, feminisms, and the burgeoning North American Men’s Rights Movement. He lives in Toronto with his partner, many cats, many plants, a dog, and his hip 92 year old grandmother.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix Foreword Andrea Doucet xi Introduction Gary Lee Pelletier and Fiona Joy Green 1 Chapter 1 Parental Thinking: What Does Gender Have to Do With It? Joanne S. Frye 14 Chapter 2 Does the Manny Mother? Gary Lee Pelletier 32 Chapter 3 'Is He the Son of No One'?: A Son's Relational Narrative on his Mother Nick J. Mul. 53 Chapter 4 Why Isn't Everyone Celebrating Me? My Mom, Bankruptcy, and My Ego Justin Butler 75 Chapter 5 Lesbian Families, Sons, and Mothering: Parenting Outside the Boundaries Alys Einion 90 Chapter 6 Changing the Gender Script: Ecuadorian Sons? Increased Domesticity and Emotive Response to Transnational Mothering Ruth Trinidad Galv.n 110 Chapter 7 TV's New Dads: Sensitive Fatherhood and the Return of Hegemonic Masculinity Dwayne Avery 129 Chapter 8 What's So Funny about Childbirth? The Projection of Patriarchal Masculinity in Popular Comedic Childbirth Guides Jeffrey Nall 148 Chapter 9 Just Along for the Ride? A Father-to-Be Searching for His Role C. Wesley Buerkle 179 Chapter 10 Mommie Dearest: Undoing a Gay Identity through Pregnancy Jack Hixson-Vulpe 192 Chapter 11 The Ties that Bind Are Broken: Trans* Breastfeeding Practices, Ungendering Body Parts, and Unsexing Parenting Roles A.J. Lowik 205 Chapter 12 Becoming Mother's Nature: A Queer Son's Perspective on Mothering in an Era of Ecological Decline Michael Young 222 Contributor Biographies

Editorial Reviews

'Essential Breakthroughs contributes to the queering of motherhood studies through examining a diverse set of phenomenological perspectives and epistemological standpoints on caregiving. Including compelling narratives and analyses from expectant fathers and male nannies to lesbian mothers and transmen making different reproductive decisions, Green and Pelletier's collection provides a rich starting place from which to think about the limitations of normative discourses around mothering. This is a vital collection for those wishing to engage a conversation about men and mothering that is simultaneously queer and feminist, that abandons gender essentialism while retaining a maternal lens as an essential tool of critical analysis.' —Shelley Park, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Central Florida; author of Mothering Queerly, Queering Motherhood 'Formal equality reigns in an increasing number of countries, and yet sexist and heterosexist parenting norms still define our families. Essential Breakthroughs presents a path-breaking and engaging collection of essays, theoretical and personal, that invite us to think about our families beyond the binary.' —Darren Rosenblum, Professor of Law, Pace Law School

From the Publisher