Jezebel: Fatherhood

Baby Girls Make Dads More Interested in Equality

lisa wade — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST

There's a trend among fathers documented by sociologists Emily Shafer and Neil Malhotra. Their article measured the effect of a new baby's sex on a parent's gender ideology. Their findings? Men's support for traditional gender roles weakens after they have a daughter; no similar result was documented for new mothers. More »

I Am Amber Cole’s Father

Jimi Izrael — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:15:00 EDT

I am Amber Cole's father. I am angry, confused and completely at a loss. I love my daughter. I want to guide her without suppressing her. That is not always easy. Children need protection from their worst inclinations. That is not always easy. I am trying to convince her that the world will still love her if she keeps her clothes on. I do not know if she can hear me, or if she is listening. She would listen to her mother, if her mother was not busy. Doing something, anything that is not parenting. I want her mother to spend less time being "empowered" and more time being aware and engaged with our daughter. I want her mother to be a better role model, not a BFF. It takes two. More »

'Renaissance Fighter' Dad Forces Daughter To Sword-Fight Him

Anna North — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:10:00 EDT

Here's a guy who won't be winning any dad awards this week: Fremont Seay has been arrested for forcing his sixteen-year-old daughter to sword-fight with him until she collapsed. More »

Dad's Sex Tips To One-Year-Old Are Worst Fatherly Advice Ever

Anna North — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:45:00 EDT

Former Houston hand surgeon Dr. Michael Brown was acquitted last month of abusing his fourth wife, ten years after he admitted to beating his third wife with a bedpost and dragged her down the stairs by her hair. Now, his letters to his baby daughter have surfaced, and their explicit sex tips make them extremely bizarre reading. More »

Having Kids Lowers Men's Testosterone

Anna North — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:10:00 EDT

A new study shows that having a baby lowers men's testosterone levels. However, this doesn't mean they're turning into sissies. More »

These Pregnant Zombie Women Have An Important Message About Fatherhood

Anna North — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:45:00 EDT

In this Chromeo video for "When The Night Falls," the band's sexy looks and hot beats spontaneously impregnate every woman who dares to gaze upon them. Bizarre as it is, their message might actually be kind of feminist. More »

Protecting My Daughter From The Pageant Queens

Mike Adamick — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:55:00 EDT

I am desperate to keep my girl away from beauty queens. I'm not talking Miss America or Miss Universe or whatever they have now. I'm talking about Little Miss Sunshine and all those shows they have on TLC about toddlers and pageants and their overbearing, embarrassingly selfish fame-whoring moms. More »

The "Scary Dad" Phenomenon

Anna North — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:38:00 EDT

Malia Obama turns thirteen next month, meaning our President will officially be the father of a teenager. He doesn't seem too worried: of his girls, he says, "I have men with guns that surround them often." And thus Obama joins the ranks of the Scary Dad. More »

Moms Are For Nurturing, Dads Are For Roughhousing

Dodai Stewart — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 17:35:00 EDT

This morning on Today, we learned that horseplay teaches boys and girls life lessons, like thinking fast and shaking things off. A book called The Art Of Roughhousing, by an MD and a PhD, supplies parents with information and tips about how to participate in physical play with their kids, absurd but true. Watching the dads featured in the segment get on the floor and roll around with the children, I had two reactions: First, I wanted to yell at the fathers. Who's the kid and who's the parent? You're gonna break a vase! Or an arm. Stop rolling around on the carpet and change some lightbulbs or take out some trash. Then I remembered how, when I was a kid visiting in rural Georgia, my grandfather used to pick me up by one leg and one arm and hurl me into the creek. I'd swim back to shore as fast as I could, eager for him to do it again. More »

Dads-To-Be Say Goodbye To Fun With "Dadelor Parties"

Anna North — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 09:50:00 EDT

Well, now we have a plot for The Hangover III: in a new trend, fathers-to-be are apparently going out for a booze-soaked last hurrah with their buddies before they become totally lame. Friends, meet the "dadelor party." More »

When It Comes To Childhood Obesity, Blame Dad, Not Mom

Margaret Hartmann — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 21:56:14 EDT

A variety of factors are contributing to the childhood obesity problem, but when we talk about what parents choose to feed their kids, it's often assumed that mom is the one putting Doritos and Pepsi on the menu. However, new research shows that it's actually fathers who have the most influence over whether or not their child is overweight. More »

Over A Quarter Of Women Have Children With More Than One Man

Irin Carmon — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 18:50:00 EDT

A new study of nearly 4,000 women has found that 28 percent of women with two or more children had them by different men. A longitudinal study, it took place over the course of 27 years, with 20 interviews. More »

Men Say They Only Attend Birthing Classes To Humor Ladies

Margaret Hartmann — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 11:40:00 EST

A Swedish study found that while 46% of participants in childbirth classes are men, most say they're mainly attending for the sake of their partners. (That would explain the curious lack of single men in Lamaze classes.) More »

Dad Fires A Shot In The War On Pink

Mike Adamick — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 15:56:00 EST

In our Daddy Issues series, a father of a young daughter seeks guidance, hoping to raise a strong woman. He looks to you, dear readers, for insight. More »

Hometown Rallies Around 14-Year-Old Parents

Dodai Stewart — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:40:00 EST

April Webster and Nathan Fishbourne are both 14 years old, and have a newborn son, who was conceived when his parents were 13. More »

Sensitive Real Guys You Love

Sadie Stein — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:06:00 EST

We asked, you answered! Herewith, your tales of our the sensitive, real-life guys who rock your worlds and, if it ever starts to falter, restore your faith in the opposite sex. More »

Being A Fat Guy Causes Infertility

Erin Gloria Ryan — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 11:35:00 EST

A European Science Foundation report found that mass infertility among European men is caused by a decreased sperm count, which is linked to obesity. At least this time, it's not our fault? More »

Dieting May Be A Dead End

Dodai Stewart — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:49:00 EST

Amitai Etzioni is not a doctor. He's a a sociologist and professor of international relations at George Washington University, the author several books, and used to teach at Columbia and Harvard. But he has some pretty interesting opinions about dieting. More »

Cooking & Cleaning Makes Dads Healthier & Happier

Lauri Apple — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 15:40:00 EDT

After talking to 1,100 working dads, researchers at Lancaster University learned that men feel less stressed-out when they equally share housework and childcare duties. Which means they're happiest when they do all the housework, right? Say yes. [Image stacymbass/Flickr.] More »

Matt Damon Makes His Daughters A Priority

Dodai Stewart — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:31:00 EDT

He has three now, is expecting another, and says of his wife: "Lucy's in her third trimester for the fourth time; I think that's about enough to ask of any woman. I don't want to turn her into Ethel Kennedy." More »

Daddy Issues: Does A Wandering Eye Hurt My Daughters?

Mike Adamick — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:01:00 EDT

I was driving around town with my father-in-law when we passed a popular breakfast joint. Waiting on the sidewalk outside was a group of four beautiful young women. More »

The British PM Presumably Enjoyed His Paternity Leave

Irin Carmon — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:22:53 EDT

Yes, that's right, our friends across the pond have a head of state who just took time off to spend time with his newborn. Cue American lefty social-welfare envy. But how is the habitually obnoxious British press taking this? More »

Helpful Handbooks: What If Kids Had A Guide To Parents?

Hortense Smith — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 11:55:00 EDT

Noting the seemingly endless supply of guides to children for first-time parents that are currently on the market, Jon Methven of The Good Men Project argues that perhaps kids should be given a guide to parents as well: More »

Why Fathers Should Be In The Delivery Room

Brian Reid — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:00:00 EDT

I have been baffled by the recent backlash against dads in the delivery room, one of those things that seems to make such perfect sense to me that I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the counter-argument. More »

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Dodai Stewart — Thu, 20 May 2010 19:10:00 EDT

[Hartford, May 19. Image via AP.]

Spit, Swallows, And The Science Of Cuckolding

Anna North — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 16:00:00 EDT

An over-the-counter paternity test inspires Intelligent Life to ask: What percentage of kids are "not the child of the man assumed to be their father?" And does human cuckolding actually have an evolutionary purpose? More »

Levi Johnston Doesn't Want To Pay Child Support, Still Wants To Model

Katy Kelleher — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:30:00 EST

Levi Johnston is broke, unable to pay child support, and won't be making any appearances on Wisteria Lane. No wonder TMZ is calling his future "bleak." More »

Study Claims That Children Who Are "Smacked" Do Better Later In Life

Hortense Smith — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:40:00 EST

According to a study led by Professor Marjorie Gunhoe of Calvin College, children who are physically disciplined between the ages of two and six end up being more successful and well-adjusted than peers who had never been "smacked." More »

Father's Day: Fatherhood Initiative Encourages Dads To Man Up

Sadie Stein — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:40:00 EDT

It's funny that on the same day I planned to write a little something on Obama's "Fatherhood Initiative," a tipster should send in the clip of a guy talking about his daughter that had 1,500 women in tears: More »

Gloria Explains It All

Katy Kelleher — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EDT

Yesterday, Gloria Steinem gave her annual interview with radio station KUOW about the state of modern feminism. Some choice quotes, after the jump. More »

Barack Obama And The Changing Face Of Fatherhood

Anna North — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:30:00 EDT

In an excerpt of an essay in the upcoming issue of Parade magazine (full text available Sunday), Barack Obama talks about what it means to be a dad. More »

New Research Says Having Kids Alters Men's Brains

Anna North — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:30:00 EDT

In news that might surprise Michael Lewis, new research shows that having a baby may change men's brains to make them better dads and partners. More »

Michael Lewis Says Dads Suck At Chores, Emotional Attachment

Anna North — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:00:00 EDT

Michael Lewis has just released Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood, in which he admits to not loving his children immediately, but this bad father to Ayelet Waldman's Bad Mother isn't getting nearly the flak she did. More »

Some Fathers Are Selfish & Proud

Dodai Stewart — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EDT

Two different stories about selfish dads seem sad and totally retro: More »

Newsflash: Babies Are Complicated; Not Everybody Needs One

Anna North — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:00:00 EDT

A spate of articles this weekend deal with the ways the modern cult of motherhood does a disservice to women — and men. More »

Where Are The Men In The Octuplets Story?

Margaret Hartmann — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:30:00 EST

New details about Nadya Suleman and her mother emerge every day, but now Suleman's father is speaking. The WSJ asks: what does the absence of men in this story say about how we view fatherhood? More »

13-Year-Old Dad Sells His Story As Courts Investigate DNA

Margaret Hartmann — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:30:00 EST

Social services will pay for Alfie Patten to take a DNA test, and if the 13-year-old is the father of baby Maisie, he and his family could make a fortune selling their story. More »

Jon Stewart And Son Don't Watch The View ... A Lot

Margaret Hartmann — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:00:00 EST

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Jon Stewart was on Late Night With Conan O'Brien last night discussing fatherhood, or, as the Daily Show host describes it, "a chance to ruin someone from scratch." More »

An Australian man who posted a disturbing...

Margaret Hartmann — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 10:20:00 EST

An Australian man who posted a disturbing video of a man swinging a baby wildly by the arm says he was arrested for downloading abusive material. In an effort to find the baby-swinger, London police traced the video's IP address back to Australia, where federal police raided a man's home, seized his computers, and charged him with accessing, downloading, and uploading child abuse material with the intent to distribute. The man warned other uploaders to "be very careful of what they post when it comes to children." There are no reports that police have tracked down the individual actually swinging the baby. [MSNBC] More »

Remember When Your Dad Embarrassed You?

Moe — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EDT

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I don't generally address very young women on this site, preferring I suppose to assume that my readership shares the same broad demographic of beaten-down ambivalently suspended adolescent reflexive self-deprecators as myself, but a story about Malia Obama feeling embarrassed by the way her dad likes to greet her fellow ten-year-olds with a firm handshake struck a nerve. My dad totally did that too! So younger readers, if you are here, take note: you're not alone if your dad embarrasses you, in fact, you are so goddamn lucky, which is good to remember when terrible things happen to you. My father used to embarrass me relentlessly, and to be quite honest, at the time the discovery that everyone else's fathers embarrassed them only made this worse. Other people had the luxury of being embarrassed by dads who played the Beach Boys when they drove carpool and maybe yelled antiquated cheers at their soccer matches. More »