Price: $34.95
Page Count: 249
Publication Date: November 2015
ISBN: 978-1-926452-16-6
“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
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
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.
