Critical Reflections on Caring Masculinities: Nuances, Tensions, and Complications

This article draws selectively on three cases of young heterosexual fathers to highlight nuances, complexities, and tensions that could complicate understandings of “caring masculinities” and contribute to the debate concerning caring masculinities, hegemony and domination. It suggests that there is a need to consider forms of domination beyond gender and notes that masculinities are dynamic and may therefore be enacted in different ways as men move across contexts. Considering these issues, as well as the discrepancies that may characterize men’s caring practices and discursive formations, can reveal inconsistencies that may challenge current understandings of caring masculinities as antithetical to hegemonic masculinity. To theoretically frame these tensions, the article brings caring masculinities and “hybrid masculinities” into critical dialogue.