La santé sexuelle masculine au 17e siècle

Men, Medicine and Masculinity: male sexual health in the Long 17th Century


Dr Jennifer Evans (University of Hertfordshire)




Second seminar of the 2014/15 History of Pre-Modern Medicine series 

next Tuesday (28th)
Wellcome Trust, Gibbs Building, 215 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE.
Doors open at 6pm and we'll start the seminar at 6.15pm.

Masculinity in early modern England, in part, rested upon the male body exhibiting potency, strength, and rationality. This could be achieved through the tone of voice, the growth of facial hair, the development of a muscular physique and the production of children. The health of the male body was therefore tied to ideas of manhood and masculinity. In this paper I am going to explore how men’s sexual health and reproductive problems were accommodated within these ideas. How did men understand their sexual health, did they experience shame about suffering from conditions that affected their reproductive organs, and how did they interact with medical practitioners and healers in these circumstances? Drawing on medical literature, correspondence and other early modern writings this paper will demonstrate that men’s responses to sexual health problems show concern, in some cases, about their masculinity and their reputation. For some diseases, particularly venereal disease, they were motivated in their search for treatments by shame, but, as we might perhaps expect, pain was central to narratives of male sexual health experience. This paper will also reveal that the stereotype of ambivalent and difficult male patients has a long history.

More info here: http://blog.wellcomelibrary.org/2014/10/men-medicine-and-masculinity/.