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Distributed for Reaktion Books

Manhood

The Rise and Fall of the Penis

Distributed for Reaktion Books

Manhood

The Rise and Fall of the Penis

 In Manhood, experienced urologist and sexologist Mels van Driel offers an unprecedented history of the penis—with answers to everything you wanted to know, and even some questions you’d never thought to ask. Investigating the penis and its functions, van Driel’s work ranges from impotence to the speed of ejaculation, and from inguinal hernia to infertility. Psychological factors that have an impact on sexual experience, as well as contemporary phenomena, such as cyber sex, are examined along the way with good humor and much insight.
 


288 pages | 30 halftones | 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 | © 2009

Culture Studies

Gender and Sexuality

History: General History


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Reviews

"This vastly entertaining, eclectic book, written by a Dutch urologist, is full of myths, lore, natural history, and medical information about the male nether regions. . . . A compassionate . . . account of the long human strugle to understand—and to celebrate—the sometimes baffling workings of men and their malest members."

Barnes &  Noble Review

 “Van Driel wants to do two things: to inform readers about the anatomy and workings of the penis, scrotum and the rest of it, doing so lightheartedly and with humor, as though a slightly boozy uncle were instructing you about how machine guns work; second, to entertain . . . [Van Driel] wears his learning lightly.” —Globe and Mail

Globe and Mail

Table of Contents

Introduction

1    The Testicles and the Scrotum
2    The Penis
3    The Prostate and Seminal Glands
4    Testosterone and Sperm
5    Castration
6    Ailments of the Scrotum
7    Ailments of the Penis
8    Voluntary and Involuntary Sterility
9    Spilling One’s Seed
10  Women
11  Eroticism

Conclusion: That Wraps it Up

Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index

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