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Missing Fathers: Aging Traditional Men and Familial Estrangement
For decades, family therapists have expressed concern about missing or "peripheral" fathers, men who are either emotionally or physically unavailable to their children (Brooks & Gilbert, 1995; Brooks & Silverstein, 1995; Silverstein, 1993). If this lack of availability were conceptualized along a continuum, at one end would be fathers who have minimal emotional involvement, although they are physically present in the home. At the other end would be those fathers who are not only emotionally absent but also are rarely or never seen by their children.
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Men in Families: Old Constraints, New Possibilities
Masculinity, as a social construct, includes role proscriptions for men in a range of interpersonal contexts. Families are basic social systems that translate cultural expectations to developing males and are social arenas in which these role proscriptions are acted out. This chapter addresses two critical aspects of masculinity in the context of family life - men in heterosexual marriage, and fathering.
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Intergender Communication and Gender-Sensitive Family Therapy
Some have claimed that the problems couples bring to marital therapists can be reduced to women wanting more time in the living room (conversation), and men wanting more time in the bedroom (sexual activity). Although this gender stereotype is simplistic and insulting to both genders, it is, nevertheless, well enough accepted to illustrate that men and women recognize that they live in different gender worlds, with each poorly understanding life in the other world much of the time. In many ways, traditional gender socialization promotes gender segregation and polarization, resulting in intergender relationships characterized by partial knowledge, fantasized truths, and misunderstanding.
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The Role of Gender in Marital Dysfunction
In popular lore, marriage is the natural extension of romantic love when a man and a woman find the "perfect partner." But if marital bliss is about love, then how can marital dysfunction be explained? Was there insufficient love? Did personal selfishness or immaturity intercede? Was the outside world too stressful and demanding? Read More...
