This edited volume addresses how single mothers and fathers are represented in novels, self-help literature, daily newspapers, film and television, as well as within their own narratives in interviews on social media. With proportions varying between countries, the number of single parents has been increasing steadily since the 1970s in the Western world. Contributions to this volume analyse how various societies respond to these parents and family forms. Through a range of materials, methodologies and national perspectives, chapters make up three sections to cover single mothers, single fathers and solo mothers (single women who became parents through assisted reproductive technologies). The authors reveal that single parenthood is divided along the lines of gender and socioeconomic status, with age, sexuality and the reason for being a single parent coming into play.Chapter 11 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Examines representations and self representations of single parenthood in different national contexts and in various media Considers societal attitudes towards single parents against the background of the rise of nationalism and rapidly shifting political landscapes of the twenty-first century Explores the intersectionality of solo mothering and fathering, social class, minority experience and cultural conceptions of parenthood against dominant national discourses about inclusion, immigration, welfare support/austerity policies (housing and food security), inequality and family policy

Autorentext

Berit Åström is Associate Professor of English Literature at Umeå University, Sweden. Her research focuses on the representation of mothers, motherhood and mothering in literature, film and television. Her recent publications include The Absent Mother in the Cultural Imagination (2017).

Disa Bergnehr is Professor of Education at Linnaeus University, Sweden. Her primary research areas are (nuclear, single and refugee) family life, home-school relations, schooling in disadvantaged areas, children's socialization, and children's and parents' wellbeing and agency.

Inhalt

1.Introduction.- 2. Representation of Single Mothers in Petra Soukupova's Contemporary Czech Prose: Guilty Mothers and Uninvolved Fathers.- 3. Young Single Motherhood in Contemporary German and Irish Films: Lucy, Jelly Baby and Heartbreak.- 4. Unwed and Unwanted: Sofia and the Taboo of Single Motherhood in Morocco.- 5. Advice Books for Single Mothers Raising Sons: Biology, Culture and Guilt.- 6. Single Dads in the Entertainment Arena: Hegemonic Hierarchies and Happy Endings.- 7. Single Fathers with Daughters in American Film.- 8. DILF or Ditched? Representations of the 'Single Father' in Swedish Internet-based Forum Discussions.- 9. On the Margins: The Experiences of Single Women who Conceive at Australian Fertility Clinics.- 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.- 11. Reluctantly Solo? Representations of Single Mothers via Donor Procedure, Insemination and IVF in Swedish Newspapers.- 12. Plan B: Single Women, Romantic Love and the Making of Babies in The Back-Up Plan and The Switch.