ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the rhetoric of the Fathers' Rights Movement (FRM). It contends that the FRM uses a particular interpretation of the "liberal feminist" oi gender neutrality to construct a "movement frame" that has the ironic consequence of privileging fathers' claims to child custody. The chapter analyses framing, place it in the context of the political struggles over family law specifically and gender relations generally. The FRM is but one faction of a larger "men's movement". Gross, Smith, and Wallston maintain that the men's rights movement has its roots in feminism. Movement frames, and the broader master frames, vary in their elaboration. Some are specified and particularistic, or "restricted". Liberal feminism has expressed "its critique of contemporary sexual norms only in terms of such 'political' concepts of liberty and equality". But that has implications for domestic work and child care. The chapter concludes with considerations on counter-movements, rhetoric, and contemporary American political culture.
