We have developed a study under ethnographic basis with men from popular classes, fathers of children under 6 years old, trying to find out their experiences regarding paternity; making logical links between discourse and practice. We used participative observation, through frequent visits to homes for a nine-month period and semi-structured interviews. We have found that, for the interviewed men, the feeling of being a father is not determined by the biological link to the child, but strongly influenced by the quality of relation they have with their female partner and their own experience as a son. Being a provider is a necessary condition to have an affective relation with their children, in which physical care tends to be excluded as they consider it to be a feminine work. Being present as a father involves multiple, concrete, and psychic senses. As a conclusion, we suggest that this subject should be kept on continue studies, noticing three different levels - socio-cultural, relational and individual - and it should be included in the health practices discussion.
paternity; gender; masculinity
