Daddy Issues

Contemporary feminism has re-embraced thinking about the big ideas – patriarchy, capitalism, care. But contemporary concern about men tends to relate to the men in our lives other than our fathers: our partners, friends, colleagues, bosses – many of whom are also, of course, fathers. Discontent with fathers has increasingly been privatised within feminist discourse. Daddy issues have been relegated to the realm of personal problems individuals take to therapists. In this bold, daring essay Katherine Angel asks: what is the father-daughter relationship today? How can it be understood politically? What political harms are done in the name of a father’s love? Drawing on classic works by Virginia Woolf and Valerie Solonas along with more recent examples drawn from literature, film and TV, Angel examines how artists have conveyed the painful powers of the father in relation to the daughter.