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Clip description
Janet Merewether ponders whether her new son will miss having a dad. She’ll have to be both father and mother. She’s heard Dr Peggy Drexler, who has written a book called Raising Boys Without Men (2008), on the radio speaking about her theories. The filmmaker reflects further about bringing up kids to be wiser and gentler. Merewether reads the second letter that she has written to the baby’s father.
Curator’s notes
Throughout the film, Merewether’s own father comes across as an unreconstructed male. He speaks his mind and it’s sometimes very confronting, not only for her, but viewers as well. But her father has brought his only daughter up to be competent in fixing things and playing sport. In this clip, it is intriguing to listen to Dr Peggy Drexler giving much food for thought in terms of how children are raised.
In the next scene, it is somewhat surprising that the filmmaker goes to such lengths to contact the absent father and it is quite a relief when he actually shows up (although his face is obscured). No-one knows how they will react in situations like this until they actually experience it themselves.
