Among the now considerable literature addressing masculinity there are few texts which take as the specific object of study the relationship between masculinity and the law. This book explores the diversity of the masculinities of law and bridges the critique of masculinity and the critical study of law through analysing the relation between masculinity, legal discourse and the family. It seeks to unpack representations in law of male sexuality, authority, paternity, fatherhood and male violence in the family. All of these are areas of law in which understandings of masculinity, law and power have assumed a central importance just as dominant ideas of male heterosexuality have become increasingly problematic
