Single Parents: Representations and Resistance in an International Context (Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life)

Contents
Notes on Contributors
1 Introduction
	Introduction
	Single Mothers
	Single Fathers
	Solo Mothers Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies
	Concluding Discussion
	References
Part I Single Mothers
2 Representation of Single Mothers in Petra Soukupová’s Contemporary Czech Prose: Guilty Mothers and Uninvolved Fathers
	Introduction
	The Position of Single Parents
		Normative Climate and Literature
		The Case of Petra Soukupová’s Literary Fiction
	Guilty Single Mothers
		Self or Mother
	Uninvolved and Absent Fathers
	Conclusion
	References
3 Young Single Motherhood in Contemporary German and Irish Films: Lucy, Jelly Baby and Heartbreak
	Introduction
	Comparing Contemporary German and Irish Films
	Film Selection and Introduction
	Young Motherhood: Social Isolation and Autonomy Restrictions
		Social Isolation: Lucy and Jelly Baby
		Restrictions on Autonomy by the Irish State: Heartbreak
	The Expectation of Failure
		Scrutiny by Public Institutions: Jelly Baby
		Anticipated Audience Expectations: Lucy
	Conclusion
	References
4 Unwed and Unwanted: Sofia and the Taboo of Single Motherhood in Morocco
	Introduction: Single Motherhood in the Twenty-First Century
	Mothering Alone in Morocco
	Film Analysis
	Conclusion: Survival Strategies and Ambivalent Feminism
	References
5 Advice Books for Single Mothers Raising Sons: Biology, Culture and Guilt
	Introduction
	The Material
	The Boy Crisis
		Boys’ Biological Disadvantages
		The Vulnerable Boy and the Single Mother
	Saving the Boy
		Not Spoiling Him
		Teaching Masculinity
		Teaching Toxic Masculinity
	Reader Address
		Single Mothers
		Fathers
	What Is a Father Good for?
	Conclusion
	References
Part II Single Fathers
6 Single Dads in the Entertainment Arena: Hegemonic Hierarchies and Happy Endings
	Introduction
	Single Fatherhood in the UK and the US
	Conforming or Confounding Hegemonic Masculinity
	Where Have All the Single Fathers Gone?
	Single Father or Divorced Dad?
	Single Dads in the Media: Aka Widower Seeks New Wife and Mother
	From Screen Space to Social Support
	Conclusion
	References
7 Single Fathers with Daughters in American Film
	Introduction
	Methods
	Categories of Films Under Study
	The Dominant Fatherhood Narrative
	Innovations of the 2010s
		Women’s Position in Fatherhood Films
		Warding off Incest Concerns
	Low-Budget Independent Films of the 2010s
		Gifted
		Beasts of the Southern Wild
		Leave No Trace
		Eighth Grade
	Conclusion
	References
8 DILF or Ditched? Representations of the ‘Single Father’ in Swedish Internet-Based Forum Discussions
	Introduction
	Single Fathers
	Analysing Meaning Making
	Tools and Material
	The Un/Troubled Single Father
	Contested Fatherhood and Family Ideals?
	References
Part III Solo Mothers Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies
9 On the Margins: The Experiences of Single Women Who Conceive at Australian Fertility Clinics
	Introduction
	The Socio-Legal Path to Access
	The Study
	Findings
		‘It Was a Very Positive Experience’
		‘You and Your Partner This…You and Your Partner That’
		Negative Experiences
		‘We Often [Feel] Lucky to Be “Allowed” to Have a Baby’: A Case of Low Expectations?
	Conclusion: Moving Towards an Inclusive Practice
	References
10 Faire un bébé toute seule [A Child on One’s Own]: Challenging France’s Patriarchal Reproductive Laws in Single Mothers’ Blogs and Discussion Forums
	Introduction
	The Rhetoric of the Debate and Its Stakes
	From the Wish for Motherhood to a New Sexual Politics and Life-Writing
	Conclusion
	References
11 Reluctantly Solo? Representations of Single Mothers via Donor Procedure, Insemination and IVF in Swedish Newspapers
	Introduction
	Solo Mothers in Sweden
	Material and Method
	Who Are the Solo Mothers? How Do They Figure in the Sample?
	No Choice but to ‘Go Solo’: On Temporality and (Im)Possibility
	Men as Fathers vs. Women Reproducing on Their Own
	Respectability and Intensive Solo-Mothering
	References
12 Plan B: Single Women, Romantic Love and the Making of Babies in The Back-Up Plan and The Switch
	Introduction
	Hollywood Narratives and Single Mothers
	Single Mothers by Choice: Good Women or Selfish Threats to the Family?
	The Back-Up Plan
	The Switch
	Conclusion
	References
Correction to: Reluctantly Solo? Representations of Single Mothers via Donor Procedure, Insemination and IVF in Swedish Newspapers
	Correction to:  Chapter 11 in: B. Åström and D. Bergnehr (eds.), Single Parents, Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life,  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71311-911
Index