Researching Young Men and Family Formation: Two Stories. (October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rasmussen, Mary Lou; Carroll, Katherine; Evans, Ann; Gray, Edith; Price, Kerry; Todd, Rohan; Copland, Simon
• Is Part Of: Men and masculinities. Volume 24:Number 4(2021)
• Page Start: 611
• Page End: 629
• Publication Date: 2021-10
• Subjects: reproduction -- Australia -- young men -- family formation -- sensitive issues -- nontraditional research methods -- scripts -- heteronormativity; Men's studies -- Periodicals; Étude de genre; Étude sur les hommes; Homme; Identité masculine; Masculinité; Perception sociale; Recherche; Rôle selon le sexe; Ressource Internet (Descripteur de forme); Périodique électronique (Descripteur de forme); 305.3105
• DOI: 10.1177/1097184X19895298
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1097-184X

Abstract

Young men are underrepresented in Australian research on family formation, especially young men who are nonmarital fathers, and are not university educated. In this pilot project, an interdisciplinary research team (demography, sociology, and gender studies) based in Australia set out to design an approach that would engage this particular group of young men on the topic of family formation. We decided to employ a nontraditional research method (which we call scripts) in order to engage young men indirectly on this sensitive issue. This article does not report on what we found; rather, our focus is on gender dynamics involving the research team's imaginings of masculinity in the research process. We highlight and interrogate the gendered and heteronormative assumptions we made in the research design, anticipating that our experience can inform future research on masculinity and family formation.