IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i18p11356-d911049.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Social Experiences of Single Gay Fathers in Israel: An Intersectional Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Maya Tsfati

    (The Spitzer Department of Social Work, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel)

  • Dorit Segal-Engelchin

    (The Spitzer Department of Social Work, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel)

Abstract

Through an intersectional lens, this study explores the experience of being a single gay father by choice in Israeli society, which continues to view the traditional heterosexual two-parent family as the ideal. Analysis of 15 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with single gay Israeli fathers suggests that their experiences are characterized by constant tension between their self-perceived social acceptance and sense of belonging on the one hand and their encounters with discrimination and bias on the other. The findings shed light on the ways in which the fathers’ complex experiences are shaped by the intersection between their identity as parents and their two marginalized identities: single male parents and gay fathers. These identities were found to be highly contextual and affected by macro-level factors. As the fathers cope with their environment, they develop a sense of belonging alongside a deep sense of otherness, suggesting that the sense of belonging and the sense of otherness are not binary opposites, but rather two social categories that are continually constructed through the intersection between different identities and their interaction with macro-level factors, making single gay parenthood a multidimensional experience.

Suggested Citation

  • Maya Tsfati & Dorit Segal-Engelchin, 2022. "The Social Experiences of Single Gay Fathers in Israel: An Intersectional Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-14, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:18:p:11356-:d:911049
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11356/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11356/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Geva Shenkman & Dorit Segal-Engelchin & Orit Taubman–Ben-Ari, 2022. "What We Know and What Remains to Be Explored about LGBTQ Parent Families in Israel: A Sociocultural Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-15, April.
    2. Birenbaum-Carmeli, Daphna, 2009. "The politics of 'The Natural Family' in Israel: State policy and kinship ideologies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 1018-1024, October.
    3. Catherine Jones & Sophie Zadeh & Vasanti Jadva & Susan Golombok, 2022. "Solo Fathers and Mothers: An Exploration of Well-Being, Social Support and Social Approval," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-18, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dorit Segal-Engelchin & Orit Taubman-Ben-Ari, 2023. "Editorial: Health and Well-Being Related to New Family Forms: Perspectives of Adults, Couples, Children, and Professionals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(8), pages 1-8, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maria Quintigliano & Nicola Carone & Anna Maria Speranza & Annalisa Tanzilli & Roberto Baiocco & Lavinia Barone & Concetta Pastorelli & Vittorio Lingiardi, 2022. "Adolescent Development and the Parent–Adolescent Relationship in Diverse Family Forms Created by Assisted Reproduction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Inhorn, Marcia C. & Birenbaum-Carmeli, Daphna & Vale, Mira D. & Patrizio, Pasquale, 2020. "Abrahamic traditions and egg freezing: Religious Women's experiences in local moral worlds," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    3. Geva Shenkman & Sigal Levy & Ziv Ben-Dor Winkler & Doriel Bass & Shulamit Geller, 2022. "Higher Levels of Postnatal Depressive Symptomatology, Post-Traumatic Growth, and Life Satisfaction among Gay Fathers through Surrogacy in Comparison to Heterosexual Fathers: A Study in Israel in Times," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-13, June.
    4. Thorsten Janus, 2013. "The political economy of fertility," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 493-505, June.
    5. Geva Shenkman & Kfir Ifrah & Dov Shmotkin, 2023. "The Association of Couplehood and Parenthood with the Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being of Older Gay Men," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1419-1437, April.
    6. Frumkin, Ayala & Raz, Aviad E. & Plesser-Duvdevani, Morasha & Lieberman, Sari, 2011. ""The Most Important Test You’ll Ever Take"?: Attitudes toward confidential carrier matching and open individual testing among modern-religious Jews in Israel," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(12), pages 1741-1747.
    7. Dorit Segal-Engelchin & Orit Taubman-Ben-Ari, 2023. "Editorial: Health and Well-Being Related to New Family Forms: Perspectives of Adults, Couples, Children, and Professionals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(8), pages 1-8, April.
    8. Geva Shenkman, 2023. "The Mediating Role of Insecure Attachment in the Gap in Parenthood Desire between Lesbian and Gay Individuals and Their Heterosexual Counterparts," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-14, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:18:p:11356-:d:911049. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.