MEDIA UNFAIRLY STEREOTYPES DADS
by
Glenn Sacks and Jeffrey M. Leving
June 22, 2008
NewsWithViews.com
The
image of fathers and fatherhood has taken a beating over the past several
decades, and the media has been part of the problem. While there has
been some improvement in the past few years, fathers are still frequently
unfairly stereotyped.
For example, in April the Council on Contemporary Families issued a
report on men and housework. CNN’s headline to the story was typical
of most media-- "Report: Men still not pulling weight on chores.”
In reality, studies which account for the total amount of work that
husbands and wives contribute to their households--including housework,
child care, and employment--confirm that men contribute at least as
much to their families as women do. What the CCF study actually said
was that the amount of child care fathers provide has tripled over the
past four decades, and the amount of housework men do has doubled. Moreover,
men have accomplished this in an era where the average workweek has
significantly expanded. The papers reporting the story barely noticed.
Ex-NBA Player Jason Caffey was widely vilified in April for being behind
in his child support. Caffey had paid over 90% of what he was ordered
to pay, but fell behind when his post-career income dropped, and was
threatened with jail. Neither CNN commentator Nancy Grace nor Caffey’s
other critics stopped to ponder the absurdity of calling a father who
had already paid millions of dollars in child support a "deadbeat
dad."
Similarly, in April Chandra Myers made national headlines when she took
the unusual step of suing New York bakery worker Robert Sean Myers’
employers Sara Lee Bakeries and Bimbo Bakeries for allegedly failing
to garnish his wages. Yet while Robert was labeled a “deadbeat
dad,” the media didn’t even notice that a court had obligated
Myers to pay $2,000 a month in child support for one child--on an income
of only $1,600 a month.
USA Today financial columnist Sandra Block recently explained that widows
receive significantly more social security benefits if their husbands
delay retirement. She could have written, “Men, we know your wives
and children appreciate the sacrifices you’ve made as family breadwinner,
and delaying retirement will help ensure your loved ones are provided
for.” Instead, Block wrote:
“If you want to make up for all the times you came home with beer
on your breath, left your socks on the bathroom floor or gave your wife
a DustBuster for Valentine's Day, hold off on filing for your Social
Security benefits.”
She then adds, with some understatement, “Many men who are eager
to retire may chafe at this suggestion.” You think?
In 2002, Clara Harris repeatedly ran over her husband David as his daughter
begged Clara not to kill her father. She recently filed a suit against
her former attorney, triggering a round of media reports on her case.
Media outlets consistently referred to David simply as “Cheating
Husband” or “Cheating Spouse.” At one point, 233 of
the 354 news stories indexed on Google News, referred to David Harris
as Clara Harris’ “cheating husband.” If an unfaithful
woman was murdered by her husband, it’s doubtful that newspapers
would disparage this victim of domestic violence by referring to her
simply as “cheating wife.”
The
reporting of the Britney Spears-Kevin Federline child custody battle
also had some low points. Many headlines were similar to Yahoo News’
“Court awards Spears' kids to K-Fed.” Funny, we thought
"Spears' kids" had two parents, not just one.
Research shows that dads matter. The rates of the four major youth pathologies--teen
pregnancy, teen drug abuse, school dropouts and juvenile crime--are
tightly correlated with fatherlessness, often more so than with any
other socioeconomic factor.
The
public portrayal of fathers is fairer now than it was a few years ago,
and much fairer than it was during the 1980s and 1990s. Still, too much
of the media reflexively buys into unfair, destructive stereotypes of
dads as slackers, deadbeats, deserters, and louts.
This column first appeared in the Orange County Register (6/14/08).
© 2008 Glenn Sacks - All Rights Reserve
