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What's in a Gland? Sexuality, Reproduction and the Prostate in Early Twentieth‐Century Medicine
Author(s) -
Björkman Maria,
Persson Alma
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
gender and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.153
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1468-0424
pISSN - 0953-5233
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0424.12504
Subject(s) - masculinity , human sexuality , reproduction , prostate gland , prostate , femininity , reproductive health , gender studies , everyday life , relation (database) , psychoanalysis , medicine , sociology , psychology , political science , demography , biology , law , population , database , computer science , ecology , cancer
Abstract This article presents a case study about how norms relating to masculinity, sexuality and reproduction were produced in relation to the healthy, ailing, or aging prostate in early twentieth century medicine. It shows how the ailing prostate tied in with norms about healthy, abnormal or illicit sexual and reproductive practices. Engaging with insights from the history of medicine, feminist science studies, and men and masculinity studies, it highlights how the prostate became a diagnostic catch‐all for a wide range of physical and mental conditions, producing demarcations between femininity and masculinity, manliness and unmanliness, health and illness, and moral and vice.