"Girl dads" are melting hearts right now.
Content of fathers positively and hilariously participating in the social and emotional lives of their daughters are going viral. These men are princesses (wearing wigs). Parents with dad bods who contour and paint their nails. They're unbothered by tiaras and tutus. They drink matcha.
The videos highlight how today's dads are more engaged and involved with their children than fathers in previous generations. Recent research backs this up. And while online chatter about "girl dads" is now growing, there's long been similar discussion of "boy moms." Cultural watchers say it's a good thing to see hands-on parents earning attention and, in some cases, admiration, but these viral trends also beg the question: Why are we still gendering everything so much? And are we celebrating "girl dads" more than moms?
Despite the funny or relatable picture these trends paint, they also signal that parents alone can't change decades of gendered stereotypes about how we raise kids, said Clare Stovell, a lecturer in sociology of gender at the University of College London.
"I have reservations about being so focused on gender with parenting and the connotations that implies, the assumption about what it is to be a girl, what it is to be a boy, and what it is to parent girls and parent boys," Stovell said.
