Displaying good fathering through the construction of physical activity as intimate practice

In: Families, relationships and societies: an international journal of research and debate, Volume 8, Issue 2, p. 213-229

Abstract

A close father–child relationship is a potent cultural ideal in Western, post-industrial societies. This article poses physical activity as a practice through which fathers display intimacy in their relationships with their children. Utilising the premise of family display, it reveals the conduct of contemporary fathers to be suffused with meaning from the social convention that intimate fathers are 'good fathers'. It argues that intimate fatherhood represents a discourse, serving to shape what fathers do and how they and their children display and give meaning to fathering practices.