‘I am not Mr. Mom:’ a qualitative analysis of at-home father’s struggle for legitimacy

Although scholarship on at-home fathers explores how men negotiate their masculinity and wrestle with social stigma, research has yet to address how language and micro-level interactions are used to undermine, or contest, men’s abilities to parent as well as to reconstruct dominant forms of masculinity and fatherhood. As such, the purpose of this study is to explore the challenges at-home fathers face when gender becomes a frame for evaluating their abilities to parent. Drawing on interviews with men who are primary caregivers, the focus here is on how language situates and delegitimize men’s parenting practices. The findings suggest that gendered discourses constrain men’s ability to parent and create struggles for them as they interact with family, friends and their community. Additionally, these findings demonstrate the flaws in redefining masculinity to incorporate childcare and the implications this process has on existing gender inequalities.