Paternidades contemporâneas: um estudo sobre paternidade “ativa” e “positiva” nas redes sociais

Abstract

Two decades after the “Cairo Conference” (1994) the document “Active Fatherhood Guideline” was launched in 2014 by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in Chile. The content of the guide emphasized the construction of a caring relationship between father and child, through an upbringing that showed affection and respect for the child. It was not enough for the father to be simply responsible and participatory, but active in the care of the child, who are understood as a subject of rights. This dissertation aimed to understand “active fatherhood” as one of the manifestations of contemporary paternities. This fatherhood had the social media as the main space for visibility and debates, which are usually carried out by content producers to mark a fatherhood practice that actively participates in the economy of childcare and household. Thus, proposing to provide an education based on respect and empathy for the child. This fatherhood establishes a horizontal relationship among family members. It diverges from the traditional fatherhood that is identified with patriarchal values, which conceives the father as a provider and establishes hierarchical relationships within a family. In the investigation of the phenomenon we find centrally the reflection about hegemonic or traditional masculinity and the reinvindication of possible masculinities. Furthermore it was identified a strong process of psychologization of family relations marked by the attachment theory and the practice of positive discipline. The study was carried out through bibliographic and field research anchored in a qualitative approach. The research field was constituted on social media pages, channels of fathers and digital influencers, who was producing content on active fatherhood over a period of time, from 2018 to 2021. The fieldwork was inspired by the ethnographic method. Thus, there was the elaboration of a field diary and an online database to record the observations made in images, audios, videos, and texts posted from the social media analyzed. We interpreted the hypothesis that an active fatherhood rests on the process of re-signification of being a father facing the changes in contemporary society, which it is based on the concepts of freedom, equality, and individualization.