Men, Masculinity and Maternity in Britain, from the 1950s to the Present

Description

This project investigates men's reaction to and relationship with their partner's pregnancy, the birth of their baby, and the early infant care. I'm exploring the rapid shift in men's involvement with childbirth, from the post-Second World War period, a time when most midwives, men and women thought that the delivery room was no place for a man, through the relatively rapid shift to including husbands in the 1970s, to the present day in which fathers are considered to be an integral part of the birth experience. This shift relates to broader changes in romantic relationships between men and women, the balance between constructions of birth as a medical or life event, and the involvement of fathers in their children's lives. Sources include oral history interviews, medical literature, social research, and popular cultural texts.