Consent and Capacity

Abstract

Not all marriages were valid since not any couple could legally marry and this restriction changed during the period 1918 to 1960. Masculinity is explored through analysis of legally acceptable marriage and in particular the law regarding affinity, polygamy, age and mental capacity. Although sexual agency was complicated, marriage was premised on the man as the breadwinning head of household and the woman as housewife and child carer, and further that men often married for reasons of pragmatism. English masculinity was in part defined against the colonial Other as protective of women and children.