Shannon Dossett

ENGL-1010-402

Annotated Bibliography Final Draft

Introduction

When first choosing my topic I wanted to write on men in childcare or the impacts of fathers on

early childhood development. However when I began my research one question that many of my

sources were asking was just what a fathers roles were and what exactly fatherhood entailed. I

decided to change my topic to defining exactly what fatherhood is in American society today.

References
Allen, James. "All Men Can Be Fathers." 16 June 2013. Townhall. Article. 1 April 2017.
<https://townhall.com/columnists/jamesallen/2013/06/16/all-men-can-be-
fathers-n1620946>.

All Men Can Be Fathers is an article written by James Allen: degrees in political

science, religion, and applied ethics with certificates in civic education and international

relations. He has written many articles for Townhall, a conservative website and also has his own

radio show. Allen uses personal reflection and an appeal to pathos, and God to encourage men to

be better mentors to their children, both biological and otherwise, and to man up to their

responsibilities as fathers. Allen emphasizes the need to prepare children for the harsh world that

we live in.

I found this article while looking at conservative sites hoping to find different viewpoints

than the ones I have found on previous resources. What I have noticed is that while many of the

opinions of what defines fatherhood and being a father are the same the beliefs behind those

reasons differ greatly. This might be a subject that I would like to look into further later on but

for my view point piece I will concentrate on the defining terms of the piece. Possible quote:
the hope that men will take responsibility for their role in society. The lack of virtue, discipline,

honesty, willingness, determination, direction, and wisdom is at the root of all of our political

and social problems (Allen speaking about the role of men being responsible for teaching

children life virtues and morals)

Benson, Ezra. "The Honored Place of Woman." October 1981. The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 15 April 2017. <https://www.lds.org/general-
conference/1981/10/the-honored-place-of-woman?lang=eng>.

In her article The Honored Place of Woman Ezra Taft Benson speaks about how the

womens place in the family is in the home. Benson uses her place as the President of the

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to speak out to her fellow religious women in this article shared

during General Conference. Through Bible verse and speeches from former Mormon presidents

Ezra urges women and mothers to resist the design of Satan to thwart the plan of our Eternal

Father. She pays special attention to Bible verse supporting her message and claims that men

being the supporter of the family while women are the care givers and child raisers is a mandate

from God.

I chose this particular article because I wanted the opinion of the extremely right-wing

minded viewpoint and being the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles this gives her

quite a high standing which leads me to believe reliability. Ezra is very firm in her opinion that

women and men have mandated roles from God in Heaven that they must follow and for women

to leave home or men to be caregivers while women work is the design of Satan. Not an opinion

I agree with but her belief, and thus the belief of those similar to her, is firm about parental roles.

Potential quote In the beginning, Adam was instructed to earn the bread by the sweat of his

brownot Eve. Contrary to conventional wisdom, a mothers place is in the home!

Berman, Steve. "I Teach Gender Roles to my Kids and I'm Good With That." 23
September 2014. RedState. Article. 15 April 2017.

In his article I Teach Gender Roles To My Kids And Im Good With That posted on the

conservative website RedState.com in 2014 Steve Berman speaks upon how it is the parents job,

especially the fathers, to teach children proper gender roles. Berman speaks of teaching his son

that it is not appropriate to hit girls. He shares his views that civil behavior is learned and that

children use observation and imitation to learn gender roles. Berman denounces popular culture

that applauds parents that allow their children to choose their own gender, or that say boys or

girls could be trapped in a body of the opposite sex. He speaks of children not being cognitively

able to make that decision. Berman believes that God does not make mistakes and that it is lax in

gender/sexual role examples that lead to people questioning their genders.

This was a very interesting read. It is obvious that Berman is very firm in his viewpoint

of fathers needing to be firm gender roles. I do agree that fathers are gender/sexual role models

though maybe not for the same reason. I was hesitant to use this article at first because there is

little information about the author but I also wanted a viewpoint outside of academia. Potential

quote: Boys are not innately gifted with the knowledge not to hit girls. Practically everything

that we consider to be civil behavior is learned. The womb and DNA only go so far, and the rest

is gained through careful observation and imitation.

Lamb, Michael. The Role of the Father in Child Development Fifth Edition. Hoboken:
John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2010. Print.

In his Book The Role of the Father in Child Development Fifth Edition 2010 Professor

of Psychology Dr. Michael Lamb uses a combination of research from international experts on

child and family relationships and development to give readers a thorough understanding of the

roles and state of fatherhood from different cultures, economic backgrounds, classes, and family
structures. The book works as a guide and is updated regularly to include most recent findings

and research in the field of fatherhood studies.

I found this book through another article that I was reluctant to use as a source for my

viewpoint essay but after researching the author and finding Lamb a reputable source I decided

to use the book. Unfortunately I do not own the text, nor am I able to afford the $50 plus price

tag, but was able to read the relevant chapter in store and found the first several pages available

to download from Research Gate for me to take notes with. Possible quote By popular

consensus, fathers were primarily responsible for ensuring that their children grew up with an

appropriate sense of values, to be used with the father as moral leader/teacher.

Piper, John. "Do Fathers and Mothers Have Different Roles In Parenting." 3 October
2008. Desiring God. audio Transcript. 15 April 2017.
<http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/do-fathers-and-mothers-have-
different-roles-in-parenting>.

In this short audio transcript Pastor John Piper speaks of the differing roles of fathers and

mothers in parenting. Pastor Piper uses references from biblical and religious teachings to

emphasize the differences between these paternal roles. Piper speaks of fathers as teachers,

providers, disciplinarians, protectors, and leaders. Mother are to be joyful and intelligent in their

affirmation and submission to their husbands. Piper emphasizes that children are watching their

parents and learning the roles that men and women play through their parents.

According to Desiring Gods Author page John Piper is fonder and teacher of desiringGod.org.

He is chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary and has served as pastor of Bethlehem

Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota for 33 years. Piper has written more than 50 books and

has given several interviews. Further research showed that Piper has a complementarian view of
gender and family roles; husbands are called to lovingly lead, protect, and provide for his family,

women should affirm and submit to her husbands leadership but in a joyful and intelligent way.

I chose this source because his beliefs behind his views on fatherhood roles are very

different than my own. I wanted to add this viewpoint to my paper to lend a different perspective.

Possible quote: Fathers are given a unique responsibility in the marriage to lead, protect and

provide for a wife, those three things. And the children are watching this, and they know that a

special role is given to dad. Speaking on fathers being a model of gender/sexual roles.

Pruett, Kyle D. M.D>. Fatherneed: Why Father Care is as Essential as Mother Care
for Your Child. New York: Free Press, 2000. print.

In his Book Fatherneed: Why Father Care is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child

2000 Kyle uses a combination of research from the Yale Child Study Center and interviews from

several families to show readers how mothers and fathers are different in their parenting styles

and why the difference is so important to the successful development of children. Kyle also

includes in his book advice from his research and interviews from families on helping parents,

especially fathers, help their children develop into healthy and happy adults.

I felt that this source was very credible. The author is very well known in his field as a

specialist and has worked as a psychiatrist and associate clinical professor at the Yale Child

Study Center. He has also written many publications including books, journals, and articles. He

is also the recipient of many awards and visiting scholar and professorships. This increases the

sources ethos, or credibility. I focused primarily on the first three chapters as they pertained to

my research topic of defining fatherhood in American society. The text also included many

resources that I plan to explore to further my research.

Rosenberg, Jeffery and W. Bradford Wilcox. "The Importance of Fathers in the
Healthy Development of Children." 2006. Child Welfare. Document. 1 April
2017. <https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/fatherhood.pdf>.

The Importance of Fathers in the Healthy Development of Children is from the Child

Abuse and Neglect User Manual Series distributed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services. Its purpose is to provide advice and guidance to concerned community members,

families, and professionals on child protection. With an emphasis on understanding child

maltreatment, responsibilities of professionals, identification of maltreatment, and its prevention

The Importance of Fathers in the Healthy Development of Children is a valuable resource.

I first found this resource when looking for statistics but found good viewpoints that can

be used in my paper for fathers role as provider as well as nurturer. Being published and

distributed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as well as its child and family

administrations leads me to believe it is a reliable source. Potential quote: It is now understood

that a nonresidential father, even if he is only able to provide minimal child support, is much

more likely to help support the child financially over the years if he is involved in his childs life

than if he is not emotionally connected to his child. (p 31) Note to self: this would be a good

segue into father as a nurturer.

Webb, Kathleen. The Changing Definition of "Dad". n.d. 15 April 2017.

<http://www.lifehack.org/395390/the-changing-definition-of-dad>.

In her article The Changing Definition of Dad Webb speaks about the evolving roles

of fathers as teachers, parents, partners in a relationship, and members of society. Webb speaks of

the constantly changing views of societal expectations as well as changing familial expectations.

She speaks of shifting traditions in fatherhood over time, changes in child care perceptions, and

urges fathers to make their relationships into true partnerships. Webb goes on to encourage

fathers to be involved and knowledgeable about their children and to not let obsolete societal
expectations affect their relationships with their families or how they interact and care for their

children.

I could find little information on Kathleen Web, the author of the article, outside of her

social media pages. The website author information page states that she Co-founded HomeWork

Solutions which helps with tax services to families employing household workers such as

nannies. She has written several articles and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal,

Kiplingers Personal Finance, and the Congressional Quarterly. She also worked on drafting the

1994 Nanny Tax Law. Webb is a graduate of Boston College and is Co-President of the

International Nanny Association. While this does not make her an expert in my topic she did

bring up many good points and used credible resources in her blog.

I found this article when I was looking for popular social opinion on the definition of

fatherhood. I wanted an opinion that was based on the public rather than a government site or a

scholarly article. What do the common people say rather than what the professionals say we

should think. Potential quote: The fathers of today are in a very different cultural environment

than their fathers or grandfathers. They are having children much later in life. Traditional gender

norms are less concrete than they once were, and often both parents often must be active in the

workforce to make ends meet. This means that traditional responsibilities are shared, and fathers

find themselves more involved in child-rearing, due to both desire and necessity.

Williams, Stephen. "What is Fatherhood? Searching for the Reflexive Father."

Sociology 42(3) (2008): 487-502. Document. 1 April 2017.

In his article What is Fatherhood? Searching for the Reflexive Father Williams uses

research studies and interviews with 40 different fathers to examine fatherhood as a

contemporary sociological phenomenon. He scrutinizes the history of fatherhood roles and

studies and compares past roles to the changing roles of current fatherhood roles. He pays

particular attention to detraditionalization and claims that fathering is more a response to

personal circumstances rather than the modeling of previous generations as was the case in past

generations. Williams continues to imply that societal change impacts the role of the modern

father.

A very interesting read with a look into the roles of fathers in the past and the ways that

they are changing. I paid particular attention to the claims about the fathers role as a provider

and the fathers role as a sex-role model though he mentioned the moral teacher and nurturing

father as well. Possible quote covering sex-role model: where the father was seen as necessary

for the (re)production of easily definable sex roles. Here, the primary function of the male parent

was to show young men how the male fitted into family life in a positive fashion. (p 489)

The article also contained many resources to look into further.

Overall Conclusion:

My topic was very interesting and actually somewhat difficult to research because I of the type

of paper I am writing, a defining paper. My sources, while plentiful, were very similar on their

opinion on what fatherhood entails and what a fathers roles were. The differences came in the

reasoning behind the roles, however those reasons were not the focus of the paper. I concentrated

on finding several different stakeholders and their opinions on the subject. In the future I would

like to look further into the effects the changing roles of fatherhood would have on the differing

stakeholders.

Overall word count 2470