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suggested that too much sex could cause an over-active prostate. But it was also suggested that too little sex could cause problems. Too much sex in a wild youth could lead to prostate problems in middle age (though the connection to untreated gonorrhoea was a point of contention). And at the time, the prostate was also thought to hurtle sperm against the cervix with sufficient force to produce an female orgasm.
That, of course, was in the past. But today, as well, one can see traces of a man’s social identity and the norms men are expected to display prevalent in many of the discussions about prostate health.
Advertisements for prostate medications use images of men riding mountain bikes, white river rafting, or playing golf, all activities which don’t easily facilitate frequent bathroom breaks. Men with prostatitis (often thought to be an inflammation of the prostate) can sometimes be encouraged to avoid fly fishing in icy rivers, reduce the number of beers consumed in an evening, wear long underwear when riding motorcycles in the winter, and medicate the problem with antibiotics, rather than being encouraged to practice yoga, make lifestyle changes or do their Kegels, as bodies without prostates are sometimes told when presenting with similar symptoms. And conversations about the side-effects of prostate cancer treatments often focus on lost erections and missing ejaculation, with medical treatments offered to try to regain the ability to perform penetrative sex. All of these topics and more are discussed in this book, which is the result of a 7 year, interdisciplinary, medical humanities research project at Linköping University, Sweden, directed by Professor Ericka Johnson.
Probably Josef Benedikt Curiger (1754–1819) from Einsiedeln. From the Medical Collection, Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Inv. Nr. 1083.
Tεύχος 11 | Μάιος - Ιούνιος 2021
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