Drawing on diverse examples from literature, film, memoirs, and popular culture, Men, Masculinities, and Infertilities analyses cultural representations of male infertility.
Going beyond the biomedical and sociological towards interdisciplinary cultural studies, this book studies depictions of men’s infertility. It includes fictional representations alongside memoirs, newspaper articles, ethnographies and autoethnographies, and scientific reporting. Works under discussion range from twentieth-century novel Lady Chatterley's Lover to romantic comedy film Not Suitable For Children, and science fiction classic Mr Adam, as well as encompassing genres including blockbuster romance and memoir. Men, Masculinities, and Infertilities draws upon both sociological and popular culture research to trace how the discourse of cultural anxiety unfolds across disciplines.
This engaging work will be of key interest to scholars of popular culture studies, gender and women’s studies (including queer and sexuality studies), critical studies of men and masculinities, cultural studies, and literary studies.
The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Introduction: Storytelling and Infertility; 1. Reading Infertility in Lady Chatterley’s Lover; 2. "This Unspeakable Idea": Infertility in LaVyrle Spencer’s Blockbuster Romance The Fulfillment; 3. Ejaculation and the Heavy Load of Masculinity; 4. "I have no good sperm": Infertility in The Trouble with Joe by Emilie Richards; 5. Trying and Failing: Men’s Memoirs of Infertility; 6. The Money Shot Transformed: Masculinity, Ejaculation, and the Clinic; 7. Infertility and Missing Out in Not Suitable for Children*; 8. No Future and Worlds without Babies; References;
Biography
Jonathan A. Allan is Canada Research Chair in Men and Masculinities and Professor in the Department of English, Drama, and Creative Writing at Brandon University, Canada. He is the author of Men, Masculinities, and Popular Romance and Reading from Behind: A Cultural Analysis of the Anus and a co-editor of Virgin Envy: The Cultural (In)Significance of the Hymen.
