There is a real case of baby fever going around — and it’s coming from America’s young men. Fifty-seven percent of men 34 and under want to be parents now. Compare that to just 45 percent of women the same age who want to have a kid now, and it’s a stat that turns antiquated notions of parenthood on its head.

In a time where report after report tells us that men are in crisis, why do so many men want to turn to fatherhood? Phillip Maciak thinks the answer could be found on our television screens. He’s a TV critic at the New Republic and teaches a course on fathers and in pop culture at Washington University in St. Louis. He’s also the author of an upcoming book, titled Dad: A Pop History. Maciak says that young people have a different perception of what it means to be a father. “Largely Gen Z students have grown up in a time when dad is an adjective as much as a person,” he says. “I think it’s a more malleable thing for them.

The adaptability of fatherhood may sound like a new phenomenon, but according........

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