Fathers & divorce

the long version

Although there has been much research attention paid to mothers and children, fathers have been the unstudied parties in divorce. In this comprehensive ethnographic study, Terry Arendell gives voice to a group of divorced fathers on topics ranging from noncustodial parenting to relationships with their former spouses to fathers' rights. Their "masculinist discourse of divorce" often focuses on their rights as fathers, resistence to injustices perpetrated by the ex-spouse and the legal system, the inherent differences between women and men, and the fractured nature of the postdivorce family. Using a feminist lens, Arendell is able to differentiate the strategies adopted by traditionalist divorced fathers from innovative ones and suggests policy recommendations informed by their masculinist discourse. Complementing her earlier work Mothers and Divorce, this provocative volume offers a balanced and essential view for students and professionals in gender studies, marriage and family, sociology, social work, and communications.