Fathers can have a significant impact on family functioning and children’s well-being and trajectory as an adult. There are contested perspectives on how to understand fathering and its influence on children’s development and wellbeing. Across these often contrasting perspectives, there has been a growing acknowledgement that the impact, positive or negative, of fathering is inseparable from the context in which the father and child are embedded. Knowledge on fathering has become more nuanced moving beyond the narrow focus on the impact on children due to the presence or absence of fathers within families. The emerging evidence base tells us that fathers who remain present but are harsh, neglectful or abusive actually have a more detrimental impact on child outcomes then an absent father. There often remains a tension where fathers who have problematic and unsafe parenting often assert positive intentions to be a caring and safe parent. Indeed, there may be a large gap between their behavioural self and their aspirational self when it comes to parenting and partnering.

Arguments about the pros and cons and possible effectiveness of face masks have occupied considerable space in specialist, medical venues such as peer-reviewed journals and science blogs as well as public forums such as mainstream media and social media – the latter attracting contributions from medical specialists and lay members of the public alike. The debate has often been heated, and there have also been reports of individuals resisting the stipulation to wear face masks in shops and on airplanes, at times leading to acts of physical violence. Drawing on the narrative paradigm, this chapter examines some of the arguments for and against face masks as articulated by a diverse range of individuals and constituencies, within and beyond the Anglophone and European world, and the justifications given in each case, as well as their underlying values and logics.

This afterword considers Mailer’s legacy in the context of the recent #MeToo movement, addressing the difficulties of studying a controversial author in this context, as well as the potential intellectual merits of doing so.