The very title of this book, Making Men into Fathers, suggests the weak bonds between men and fatherhood. Men father but do not necessarily assume the responsibilities of fatherhood. This is more true in recent decades; fewer men enter fatherhood and more leave it, according to studies on both sides of the Atlantic (Jensen 1998a; Oláh, Bernhardt and Goldscheider in this volume). The growing number of solo mother families also is an outcome that reflects the decoupling of fathers from fatherhood. But this is only part of the story. There are visible actors seeking to forge the links between manhood and fatherhood, as seen in the strident men's movements affirming men's rights to father and their responsibilities to fatherhood. The Million Man march in the United States in 1995 was perhaps the most dramatic statement of a grass roots mobilization of African American men connecting manhood and fatherhood. The message leaders articulated was that poor black men were not allowed to play their normal roles as family leaders and breadwinners because they were excluded from educational and labor market opportunities (Messner 1997). Not to be ignored in this discussion is the emergence of men's groups claiming father's rights for custody of children after divorce.

The making of men into fathers is also obvious in media representations of men's involvement with fathering.