Real men love babies: protest speech and masculinity at abortion clinics in the Southern United States

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the politicized space outside the abortion clinic as a site where gender ideologies about male roles and responsibilities in abortion are contested, using anti-abortion protest rhetoric that targets men accompanying women. Protesters attempt to elicit reactions from men using gendered stereotypes, in hopes that men will change their minds about or prevent an abortion. Anti-abortion protest speech uses mixed messages about masculinity, strength, and fatherhood to shame male companions for their support of abortion. Protesters’ rhetoric constructs men as inherently responsible for preventing abortion, where only by leaving the clinic space can these men gain power, controlling their reproductive futures by controlling their female companion’s. However, men reacted in different ways to the words shouted by protesters: by ignoring them, agreeing with them, or occasionally by initiating physical or verbal altercations. I find that male companions often employ tropes of patriarchal masculinity within attempts to perform supportive masculinity in response to protest speech, while protesters simultaneously use patriarchal masculinity and contemporary gender ideologies on responsible fatherhood in attempts to prevent abortion. These conflicting rhetorical themes and diverse reactions are indicative of larger struggles in the U.S. pro-choice and pro-life movements about the role of men in abortion.