Daddy 'Mones

In a recent Utne article, it was reported that current research suggests fatherhood is good for the brain.  Apparently, some kind of chemical mystery occurs that makes dads more "canny and resourceful".  Hmm.  It caught my attention.

Then I realized that they're talking about the sperm donor.  I'm a stepfather, so I guess I'll remain uncanny and at a loss for what to do. 

Anyway, here's the statement.

Loving a woman and fathering her children changes a man’s body and brain in ways that make him more canny and resourceful, while improving his ability to handle stress. At the same time, living with the woman he loves alters a man’s hormones and neurochemistry to make him a better mate.

Upon reading this, I cannily and resourcefully walked over to the trashcan and hurled.  Sounds like a bunch of right-wing, fundamentalist-fueled (and funded?) work to me, used as grounds for anti-nontraditional-family propaganda.  The original research is headed up at the University of Virginia, arguably not a hotbed of diversity and progressive thought.

Anyway, I feel smarter having a kid in my life, but that's probably because I get to share my, ehem, vast knowledge and wisdom with him.  I have to admit, however, that I'm not sure about the increased ability to handle stress.  I'm still working on that.

Photo by Tom A., licensed under the Creative Commons

Comments

[lani@nysara.com]

The stats surely refer to fatherhood, not biological fatherhood. Think of it: release of sperm changes a guy forever if, and only if, that sperm finds an egg to fertilize? How would a man's body even know? What about generations of wrong-side-of-sheet conceptions passed off on husbands and boyfriends? Those men weren'd canny and resourceful?

[Robguy]

As a sperm donor, you probably get more of the chemical changes being a physically present father, even if they weren't your personal swimmers.

[urspo]

I sure smell a rat
A real scientific paper would never say something so vague as 'loving a woman', nor would they combine two factors into one correlation. So this sounds rot.