Fathering, Feminism(s), Gender, and Sexualities: Connections, Tensions, and New Pathways

This article provides a critical overview of selected intersections of feminist theories and gender theories within fathering research and looks at a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to a diversity of fathering experiences, including differences of class, ethnicity, race, sexuality, and family forms. Although there are many overlaps between feminist theories and gender theories, and most scholars who write about gender are feminist or profeminist scholars, there is one important distinction. Gender theories attend to multiple dimensions of gendered narratives, lives, practices, identities, and institutions. Feminism and feminist theories share all of these concerns; however, feminism and feminist theories are also directly connected to the promotion of social change for diverse groups of women, especially disadvantaged women. This point is important because it can lead to potential conflicts between feminist concerns and fathering.