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The reproductive realm is routinely viewed as a feminised space requiring women’s commitment and labour. By contrast, men’s procreative contributions and ‘reproductive masculinity’ is represented as unproblematic, with men assumed to be fertile across the lifespan. Recent scientific research has, however, cast doubt over these longstanding assumptions, suggesting that a link does exist between ‘lifestyle’ factors and male fertility. The notion that fertility can be improved with effort (for both women and men) can be located within wider cultural and political shifts which construct individuals as increasingly responsible for acting on health messages and engaging in self-disciplining body projects. Through an exploration of ‘lifestyle changes’ within a men’s online infertility discussion forum board, this paper examines how discourses of individualisation healthism and masculinity are reproduced and interlinked. Our thematic analysis indicates that ‘lifestyle work’ is construed as crucial for achieving conception - and as a means to demonstrate men’s commitment to the dyadic goal of parenthood, which in turn may challenge and extend previous notions of ‘reproductive masculinity’.

The reproductive realm is routinely viewed as a feminised space requiring women’s commitment and labour. By contrast, men’s procreative contributions and ‘reproductive masculinity’ is represented as unproblematic, with men assumed to be fertile across the lifespan. Recent scientific research has, however, cast doubt over these longstanding assumptions, suggesting that a link does exist between ‘lifestyle’ factors and male fertility. The notion that fertility can be improved with effort (for both women and men) can be located within wider cultural and political shifts which construct individuals as increasingly responsible for acting on health messages and engaging in self-disciplining body projects. Through an exploration of ‘lifestyle changes’ within a men’s online infertility discussion forum board, this paper examines how discourses of individualisation healthism and masculinity are reproduced and interlinked. Our thematic analysis indicates that ‘lifestyle work’ is construed as crucial for achieving conception - and as a means to demonstrate men’s commitment to the dyadic goal of parenthood, which in turn may challenge and extend previous notions of ‘reproductive masculinity’.

Objective: This article aims to provide insights into men’s accounts of infertility in the context of their intimate partnerships. Background: Although we are beginning to understand that men experience the emotions of infertility acutely, little is known about how such emotions impact on men’s intimate partner relationships. Evidence suggests that infertility can impact intimate partner relationships (both positively and negatively) but there is a paucity of research around how men talk about such relationship impacts, and how they share their stories with other men. Men are often viewed as the silent supporting partner within infertility contexts, with women narrated as taking the burden within the relationship. Methodology: The paper draws on data from a general discussion board on an online men-only forum. Inductive thematic analysis was utilised to identify key themes across the men’s online posts. Results: Men’s posts demonstrate that infertility challenges relationships, and that men use the forum examined to offer each other advice on coping with infertility in their relationships. Men highlighted a sense of having less agency than their female partners in relation to infertility and that they were less able to access support for themselves as a result. Conclusion: We argue that infertility can be a challenging and complex time within intimate partner relationships and that men construct this situation with reference to gendered norms and constraints within their online accounts. Consideration of both parties in couples experiencing infertility is important for supporting relationships during any diagnosis and treatment processes for infertility.

Objective: This article aims to provide insights into men’s accounts of infertility in the context of their intimate partnerships. Background: Although we are beginning to understand that men experience the emotions of infertility acutely, little is known about how such emotions impact on men’s intimate partner relationships. Evidence suggests that infertility can impact intimate partner relationships (both positively and negatively) but there is a paucity of research around how men talk about such relationship impacts, and how they share their stories with other men. Men are often viewed as the silent supporting partner within infertility contexts, with women narrated as taking the burden within the relationship. Methodology: The paper draws on data from a general discussion board on an online men-only forum. Inductive thematic analysis was utilised to identify key themes across the men’s online posts. Results: Men’s posts demonstrate that infertility challenges relationships, and that men use the forum examined to offer each other advice on coping with infertility in their relationships. Men highlighted a sense of having less agency than their female partners in relation to infertility and that they were less able to access support for themselves as a result. Conclusion: We argue that infertility can be a challenging and complex time within intimate partner relationships and that men construct this situation with reference to gendered norms and constraints within their online accounts. Consideration of both parties in couples experiencing infertility is important for supporting relationships during any diagnosis and treatment processes for infertility.

This paper explores the qualitative perspectives of women about a community embedded fathers initiative in Northern England. Projects to improve the wellbeing of men and their children are less common within the landscape of parent and child support, with mothers more often being the target recipients. Asking women about their perceptions of an initiative for fathers then offers original insights from women who are positioned as ‘related outsiders’, in that they were ‘outside’ the project but ‘inside’ the family and community. Findings suggest that women are able to see the positive impact of such a project, identifying that it offers a shared space for men and children, time for mothers without their children and can help with shifting roles and attitudes around child care and emotional labour in the home. The initiative was also seen by the women as offering men more healthy means of coping, including men moving away from traditional hegemonic practices, which in turn shifted some women’s long held gendered beliefs about men as fathers. This research then offers a relational gendered backstory to a father’s initiative, demonstrating how such initiatives can potentially ‘undo’ gender and the positive implications this could have for families.

Relatively little research on infertility focuses exclusively or significantly on men’s experiences, particularly in relation to emotional aspects. Evidence that does exist around male infertility suggests that it is a distressing experience for men, due to stigma, threats to masculinity and the perceived need to suppress emotions, and that men and women experience infertility differently. Using thematic analysis, this article examines the online emoting of men in relation to infertility via forum posts from a men-only infertility discussion board. It was noted that men ‘talked’ to each other about the emotional burdens of infertility, personal coping strategies and relationships with others. Three major themes were identified following in-depth analysis: ‘the emotional rollercoaster’, ‘the tyranny of infertility’ and ‘infertility paranoia’. This article then offers insights into how men experience infertility emotionally, negotiate the emotional challenges involved (especially pertaining to diagnosis, treatment outcomes and their intimate relationships) and how they share (and find value in doing so) with other men the lived experience of infertility.

Community groups can be settings which enable people to come together, meet with peers and engage in positive activities and support. Little is known about community groups for young men who are fathers and young men can often feel marginalised in and from other services and family support settings. This report therefore details findings from a qualitative research project into two different projects which are providing groups for young men who are fathers. The research is based on interviews with stakeholders and participants within the two projects and this report looks at key themes and findings around the use and value of groups for young dads. The research shows that groups can be a useful way to create peer support, and that youngmen enjoy spending time with other young dads and having spaces to relax away from home. Groups can help improve skills, increase confidence and help develop parenting practices so can have multiple benefits. Working with young dads in group settings requires careful consideration of the context of young men’s lives, how the group is facilitated, and having an activity focus seems to be effective. This report then sets out the possible use of community groups, offers the voices of young men about their experiences of groups and makes suggestions of areas for consideration for those thinking about working with young men.

Men have routinely been marginalised from social science and public understandings around reproduction and fertility (Culley, Hudson and Lohan, 2013), with men’s perspectives and experiences hidden from view (Hanna and Gough, 2015). In the literature that does exist, infertility is often narrated as a stigmatised, emasculating and distressing experience for men, which contributes to perceptions of difficulty in conducting primary research with men on the topic. In recent years, however, online sites (forums, blogs, social media) have presented ‘ways in’ to otherwise hard-to-reach groups (Langer and Beckman, 2005). Online sources of support have grown in popularity for a variety of health related issues, allowing users to connect with others with ‘lived experience’ to create ‘communities of practice’ (Paetchter, 2003). This paper presents findings from a qualitative research project around the use and value of online forums for men experiencing infertility within the context of their intimate partner relationships (Hanna and Gough, 2016a; 2016b). The paper will explore key themes from the research, including how men view infertility as: an emotional rollercoaster that is tyrannical within men’s everyday lives, and something which impacts longer term for those who successfully move towards parenthood. The paper will explore the forum as a ‘safe space’ which facilitates disclosure and peer support, as well as the influence of hegemonic masculinity on constructions of self, others and coping with infertility. We argue that online forums offer benefits for researchers and men alike. For researchers, the forums provide ‘naturalistic’ peer-to-peer data featuring men’s own accounts and language, thereby helping to address men’s marginalisation from previous work around infertility. For men themselves, forums can offer a valuable space in which to create a community of practice around infertility issues, to draw on peer support, and to engage mechanisms for sharing which fee

Presentation of research findings of the 'Supporting Young Dads Final Report' at the Supporting Young Dads event on the 23rd June 2016

This paper explores the qualitative perspectives of women about a community embedded fathers initiative in Northern England. Projects to improve the wellbeing of men and their children are less common within the landscape of parent and child support, with mothers more often being the target recipients. Asking women about their perceptions of an initiative for fathers then offers original insights from women who are positioned as ‘related outsiders’, in that they were ‘outside’ the project but ‘inside’ the family and community. Findings suggest that women are able to see the positive impact of such a project, identifying that it offers a shared space for men and children, time for mothers without their children and can help with shifting roles and attitudes around child care and emotional labour in the home. The initiative was also seen by the women as offering men more healthy means of coping, including men moving away from traditional hegemonic practices, which in turn shifted some women’s long held gendered beliefs about men as fathers. This research then offers a relational gendered backstory to a father’s initiative, demonstrating how such initiatives can potentially ‘undo’ gender and the positive implications this could have for families.

Community groups can be settings which enable people to come together, meet with peers and engage in positive activities and support. Little is known about community groups for young men who are fathers and young men can often feel marginalised in and from other services and family support settings. This report therefore details findings from a qualitative research project into two different projects which are providing groups for young men who are fathers. The research is based on interviews with stakeholders and participants within the two projects and this report looks at key themes and findings around the use and value of groups for young dads. The research shows that groups can be a useful way to create peer support, and that youngmen enjoy spending time with other young dads and having spaces to relax away from home. Groups can help improve skills, increase confidence and help develop parenting practices so can have multiple benefits. Working with young dads in group settings requires careful consideration of the context of young men’s lives, how the group is facilitated, and having an activity focus seems to be effective. This report then sets out the possible use of community groups, offers the voices of young men about their experiences of groups and makes suggestions of areas for consideration for those thinking about working with young men.

Men have routinely been marginalised from social science and public understandings around reproduction and fertility (Culley, Hudson and Lohan, 2013), with men’s perspectives and experiences hidden from view (Hanna and Gough, 2015). In the literature that does exist, infertility is often narrated as a stigmatised, emasculating and distressing experience for men, which contributes to perceptions of difficulty in conducting primary research with men on the topic. In recent years, however, online sites (forums, blogs, social media) have presented ‘ways in’ to otherwise hard-to-reach groups (Langer and Beckman, 2005). Online sources of support have grown in popularity for a variety of health related issues, allowing users to connect with others with ‘lived experience’ to create ‘communities of practice’ (Paetchter, 2003). This paper presents findings from a qualitative research project around the use and value of online forums for men experiencing infertility within the context of their intimate partner relationships (Hanna and Gough, 2016a; 2016b). The paper will explore key themes from the research, including how men view infertility as: an emotional rollercoaster that is tyrannical within men’s everyday lives, and something which impacts longer term for those who successfully move towards parenthood. The paper will explore the forum as a ‘safe space’ which facilitates disclosure and peer support, as well as the influence of hegemonic masculinity on constructions of self, others and coping with infertility. We argue that online forums offer benefits for researchers and men alike. For researchers, the forums provide ‘naturalistic’ peer-to-peer data featuring men’s own accounts and language, thereby helping to address men’s marginalisation from previous work around infertility. For men themselves, forums can offer a valuable space in which to create a community of practice around infertility issues, to draw on peer support, and to engage mechanisms for sharing which fee

Presentation of research findings of the 'Supporting Young Dads Final Report' at the Supporting Young Dads event on the 23rd June 2016