¶ … Beyond the Cult of Fatherhood" is a bracing challenge not only to both conventional gender norms but the way childcare is valued in our society. Osborne assumes the readers of his essay will have clear ideas of what it means to be a father and what it means to be a mother. A father is a masculine figure. Masculinity is defined as being strong and stalwart. A man is the economic provider for his children. A mother is a feminine figure. In our society, femininity is associated with the home and with nurturing and caring for children on a daily basis. Osborne states in his essay that his status as a virtual househusband powerfully upsets both of these norms and has revealed to him how little childcare in the home is valued because one cannot put an easy economic price on it. Over the course of his essay, Osborne outlines the first the underlying circumstances and then the details of how his son Nick has become the center of his life. Strictly speaking, he is "not a house husband." (281) Osborne is a professional writer. However, because his profession...
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