Impotence: A Cultural History
()
About this ebook
As anyone who has watched television in recent years can attest, we live in the age of Viagra. From Bob Dole to Mike Ditka to late-night comedians, our culture has been engaged in one long, frank, and very public talk about impotence—and our newfound pharmaceutical solutions. But as Angus McLaren shows us in Impotence, the first cultural history of the subject, the failure of men to rise to the occasion has been a recurrent topic since the dawn of human culture.
Drawing on a dazzling range of sources from across centuries, McLaren demonstrates how male sexuality was constructed around the idea of potency, from times past when it was essential for the purpose of siring children, to today, when successful sex is viewed as a component of a healthy emotional life. Along the way, Impotence enlightens and fascinates with tales of sexual failure and its remedies—for example, had Ditka lived in ancient Mesopotamia, he might have recited spells while eating roots and plants rather than pills—and explanations, which over the years have included witchcraft, shell-shock, masturbation, feminism, and the Oedipal complex. McLaren also explores the surprising political and social effects of impotence, from the revolutionary unrest fueled by Louis XVI’s failure to consummate his marriage to the boost given the fledgling American republic by George Washington’s failure to found a dynasty. Each age, McLaren shows, turns impotence to its own purposes, using it to help define what is normal and healthy for men, their relationships, and society.
From marraige manuals to metrosexuals, from Renaissance Italy to Hollywood movies, Impotence is a serious but highly entertaining examination of a problem that humanity has simultaneously regarded as life’s greatest tragedy and its greatest joke.
Read more from Angus Mc Laren
Reproduction by Design: Sex, Robots, Trees, and Test-Tube Babies in Interwar Britain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlayboys and Mayfair Men: Crime, Class, Masculinity, and Fascism in 1910s London Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Impotence
Related ebooks
A Surgical Temptation: The Demonization of the Foreskin and the Rise of Circumcision in Britain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sweetness of Venus: A History of the Clitoris Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMan and Woman: A Study of Secondary and Tertiary Sexual Characters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe sexual life of the child Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHuman Sexuality: Function, Dysfunction, Paraphilias, and Relationships Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Works of Havelock Ellis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSex and Society Studies in the Social Psychology of Sex Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiving with a Vagina: ’You Show Me Yours, I’Ll Show You Mine’ Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSubversive Family Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRethinking Eros: Sex, Gender, and Desire in Ancient Greece and Rome Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAgainst Excess Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSex after Fascism: Memory and Morality in Twentieth-Century Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Sexual Citizenship: How to Create a (Sexually) Safer World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThree Contributions to the Theory of Sex Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Male Sex Work and Society Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sex Side of Life: An Explanation for Young People Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWho Wrote the Book of Love? Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 4 Sexual Selection In Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGay Men in the Feminist Revolution: Articles, Pamphlets & Reflections on My Gay Activist Days In San Francisco, 1969-1972 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow Men Age: What Evolution Reveals about Male Health and Mortality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady Lushes: Gender, Alcoholism, and Medicine in Modern America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStudies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1 The Evolution of Modesty; The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity; Auto-Erotism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBest Sex Writing 2008 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Encyclopædia of Sexual Behaviour: Volume 1 Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Desiring Revolution: Second-Wave Feminism and the Rewriting of Twentieth-Century American Sexual Thought Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrgasmic Leadership: Profiting from the Coming Surge in Women's Sexual Health and Wellness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBi-sexual love; the homosexual neurosis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBefore Porn Was Legal: The Erotica Empire of Beate Uhse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPhallic Worship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Medical For You
The Vagina Bible: The Vulva and the Vagina: Separating the Myth from the Medicine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ (Revised Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mediterranean Diet Meal Prep Cookbook: Easy And Healthy Recipes You Can Meal Prep For The Week Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women With Attention Deficit Disorder: Embrace Your Differences and Transform Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Adult ADHD: How to Succeed as a Hunter in a Farmer's World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diabetes Code: Prevent and Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Naturally Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Holistic Herbal: A Safe and Practical Guide to Making and Using Herbal Remedies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Book of Simple Herbal Remedies: Discover over 100 herbal Medicine for all kinds of Ailment Inspired By Barbara O'Neill Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiving Daily With Adult ADD or ADHD: 365 Tips o the Day Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5"Cause Unknown": The Epidemic of Sudden Deaths in 2021 & 2022 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The People's Hospital: Hope and Peril in American Medicine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Herbal Healing for Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5ATOMIC HABITS:: How to Disagree With Your Brain so You Can Break Bad Habits and End Negative Thinking Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hormone Reset Diet: Heal Your Metabolism to Lose Up to 15 Pounds in 21 Days Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Letter to Liberals: Censorship and COVID: An Attack on Science and American Ideals Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tight Hip Twisted Core: The Key To Unresolved Pain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hidden Lives: True Stories from People Who Live with Mental Illness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Impotence
0 ratings0 reviews