Feminism and Hyper-Masculinity in Israel: A Case Study in Deconstructing Legal Fatherhood (original) (raw)

Feminism has largely treated men as the undifferentiated dominant gender group, neglecting a discussion of men's own gender identity. As a result, the legal conceptualization of masculinity is still under-explored; a tapestry of legal doctrines renders inconsistent ideological messages about what it means to be a "man," and especially what it means to be a father. Israeli legal scholarship, in particular, has done little to explore how extensively stereotypes of masculinity permeate existing law and undermine the role of men as parents. This Article fills in this academic void and begins the project of answering the largely ignored "man question," that is, how the law constrains male gender roles and how those constraints inhibit the father-child relationship. Through the critical lens of masculinities theory, I explore how and why male gender identity may frustrate father care in general and to Israeli father care in particular. As I argue, the Zionist conce...