Sex, Men, and Babies : Stories of Awareness and Responsibility

View the Table of Contents. Read the Preface.Readers unfamiliar with the burgeoning literature on the neglected importance of fatherhood will find this study a helpful beginning point.--CHOICEA more nuanced and embedded analysis of men's experiences of procreation than we have ever had. One can no longer speak of fatherhood as separate from the decisions about contraception, pregnancy, and reproduction.--Michael Kimmel, State University of New York, Stony Brook.Over the past 15 years much pioneering work has been done on the social demography of young men's sexual activities, contraceptive use, and fertility experiences. But how do men develop and manage their identities in these areas? In Sex, Men, and Babies, William Marsiglio and Sally Hutchinson provide a compelling and insightful portrait of young men who are capable of anticipating, creating, and fathering human life. Based on in-depth interviews with a diverse sample of 70 single men aged 16-30, this is the most comprehensive, qualitative study of its kind. Through intimate stories and self-reflections, these men talk about sex, romance, relationships, birth control, pregnancies, miscarriages, abortions, visions of fathering, and other issues related to men's self-awareness, and the many ways they construct, explain, and change their identities as potential fathers. The interviews also provide valuable insights about how young men experience responsiblities associated with sex and the full range of procreative events.Accessibly written for a wide audience and raising a host of issues relevant to debates about unplanned pregnancy, childbearing among teens and young adults, and women's and children's well-being, Sex, Men, and Babies is the fullest account available today on how young men conceptualize themselves as procreative beings. Lessons from this study can inform interventions designed to encourage young men to be more aware of their abilities and responsiblities in making babies.

William Marsiglio is Professor of Sociology at the University of Florida Sally Hutchinson is Professor of Nursing at the University of Florida