This chapter attends to one particular site of "traditional masculinity," namely, fatherhood. But in so doing, this chapter is also asking about different kinds of romance heroes. In particular, I argue that while the father is a paragon of patriarchy, he is also a vehicle through which to explore new masculinities. (83)
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In this spirit of seeking alternative masculinities and recognizing that the genre actively responds to the shifting cultural dynamics, I sought to explore a fairly simple question: What did the romance novel think of the rise of the dad bod? [...] At its simplest [...] the dad bod is defined as "a man between the ages of 20 and 54, with a BMI between 25 and 29.9", which renders the body as being "overweight." If the dad bod is desirable, do we find representations of the dad bod in popular texts that explicitly think through desire? Unfortunately, it would seem that the dad bod does not readily appear in the genre - or perhaps I am looking in the wrong places. Admittedly, I am looking chiefly at mainstream romances - series or category (i.e., Harlequin Mills & Boon) and single-title romances - that are situated in the contemporary moment. (84)
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In popular romance novels fathers are participating in caring masculinities that show them being involved in the lives of their children or desiring to be involved in the lives of their children; hence the presence of the child on the cover of the novel. When we look at these covers, it is as if the novel is saying from the outset that this is a father who cares for and protects his children. But this is more than just a representation of a caring father, it is about the cultivation of a desirable image of the hero. (89-90)
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In popular romance novels that feature fathers, readers find a fairly common narrative trajectory, in which the heroine and the identifying reader (who we assume to be female) are introduced to the man who is to become her lover and who is a father. Over the course of the novel, she will fall in love with him, in part because he is a good father (or he will be a good father to her children). Once this is confirmed, she is able to love him as a mate. After all, his being a father proves his virility, his fecundity, or what Radway has called "the purity of his maleness." Accordingly, I wish to provide analysis of how this trajectory unfolds in Kay Stockham's A Hero in the Making, while also being careful to recognize nuance and variation within the trope. (90)
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