Suchergebnisse

In this article, I set out to study Foreskin Quarterly, which was the Official Publication of the Uncircumcised Society of America (USA). Over the course of its history, it changed editorial hands and publishers hands several times, and with each change the magazine shifted direction that influenced and affected its original goals of foreskin activism. I argue that this magazine braided together pornography and activism in a way that was novel and important because in arguing against circumcision, it also sought to reclaim and eroticize the foreskin in a culture where the foreskin was anomalous and rare. Unfortunately, this magazine has largely gone unread by scholars, not just of pornography, but also of circumcision, and men's bodies more generally. This article, thus, contributes to a growing body of scholarship on anti-circumcision activism, while also arguing for the importance of pornography in that activist milieu.

This article studies pregnancy books that are written largely by men for men and that account for men's roles in pregnancy. Drawing on an analysis of the texts themselves, this study shows recurring themes across these books, which include: Expecting, too! which frames men as having a role in pregnancy beyond fertilization; fatherhood as a rite of passage; Unlike our dads, in which men are taught to be different from their fathers recognizing that expectations of fathers have changed; and, expectations of expectant fathers, namely, how men are to be caring partners. This article explores how these books frame masculinity and the roles men play in pregnancy. This article thus shows how these books contribute to a growing body of scholarship interested in "caring masculinities."

Romance novels are known for their sexy heroes who grace the covers and pages. This article concerns itself with how heroes are dressed; in particular, I consider the role of men's underwear in Brief Encounters by Suzanne Forster. Brief Encounters is a Harlequin Romance novel and, more specifically, a Harlequin Blaze. By way of close textual engagement, I show that men's underwear plays a significant role in the narrative, especially with respect to the construction and representation of sexuality and masculinity. To these ends, I argue that Brief Encounters imagines men's underwear as being more than functional, but as desirable and erotic. This article thus contributes to scholarship at the intersection of popular culture studies and critical studies of men's fashion.

Men and the environment, it seems, have a tenuous relationship. This article considers the challenge of men's underwear and sustainability by focusing on advertisements designed to sell ecologically friendly underwear. One of the challenges that I highlight is how we are to 'read' these advertisements. This article takes it as a given that images are polysemous. Drawing on queer theory, I propose a series of readings that align with Sedgwick's practice of paranoid and reparative reading. In the case of the paranoid reading, I show how these advertisements might be read as indicative and proof of hybrid masculinity theory. From this vantage, I move to a reparative reading that imagines other possibilities, particularly around nature and the wild. The goal of these readings is not to have one dominate over the other, but to show the nuance and complexity of masculinities in/and nature.

This article explores articles about circumcision that appeared in Sexology: Sex Science Magazine, with particular attention to how the debates shifted and changed over a forty-year period. The articles on circumcision in Sexology begin in November 1934 and end in the May 1973 issue, with every decade of publication includes articles on circumcision, corresponding with growing debates about the medicalization of routine neonatal circumcision. The first article sought to understand "circumcision among savage peoples," which was quickly followed by an article on "Circumcision among the Jews," and then "Medical view of circumcision." In its earliest issues, Sexology advanced arguments in favor of routine circumcision, but in its final article on the topic, Sexology asks, "what's so good about circumcision?"

This article argues that to understand the role and place of the foreskin, we must address the aesthetic question that sits at its root. North American media often describe the foreskin as "ugly," "gross," or pejoratively "European"; all of which present, fundamentally, an aesthetic comment on what is pleasing. As such, this article investigates the aesthetic discourse surrounding the foreskin in relation to a range of materials that speak at or around the foreskin. In particular, it looks at sources deemed to be "common"—sex manuals, pregnancy manuals, and film and television—alongside theoretical and scientific studies. Undertaking a close reading of these materials, this article sheds light on the striking similarities that these distinct bodies of literature share and the way that aesthetics undergirds their arguments, often as a silent statement rather than exerted forcefully. Through this argument, this article breaks new ground on the way that we consider the foreskin, and, importantly, the aestheticization processes that shape our understanding of this seemingly ancillary component of the penis. Accordingly, this article contributes to a growing body of scholarship on the politics of the foreskin and circumcision by shifting the debate to consider the aesthetic.