“Mommy, Where Do Daddies Come From?”: The Media’s Portrayal of WWII Fathers

Authors

Melissa Brown, Brigham Young University
Dr. Mark Grandstaff, Brigham Young University

Keywords

WWII fathers, Parents' Magazine, portrayal of fathers, father's role

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

History

Abstract

Betty Friedan, in her book, The Feminine Mystique argues that men shape women’s roles through the media, but at some points in time, the reverse has been true. During WWII, Parents’ Magazine, with it’s almost all-woman editorial board and largely female readership produced more articles on fatherhood than all the other parenting magazines put together. As the war dawned, many fathers left to fight, removing the buffering force that kept the magazine’s portrayal of the father’s role grounded in a reality. As a result, during the war years, Parents’ Magazine’s portrayal of fathers changed, as this analysis of over one thousand, two hundred article titles, and over one hundred and forty article texts from that magazine shows.

Recommended Citation

Brown, Melissa and Grandstaff, Dr. Mark (2013) "“Mommy, Where Do Daddies Come From?”: The Media’s Portrayal of WWII Fathers," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013: Iss. 1, Article 342.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/342