Cultural Encyclopedia of the Penis

This rather unique addition to men and masculinity studies examines how the penis has been culturally defined and historically interpreted. The editors have compiled more than 150 contributions from scholars, researchers, activists, and clinicians from all over the world that pay particular attention to the socially constructed meanings attached to this organ across time and space. Taken as a whole, the work addresses what the editors describe as the 'many facets of the penis'analyzed from artistic, medical, musical, literary, psychological, sexual, historical, religious, and sociological perspectives. Each entry offers a useful selection of sources for further reading, thereby enabling readers to poke around further and fill any gaps in their understanding. The encyclopedia also includes many photos, drawings, and other imagesillustrations that provide greater clarification, given that some bibliographic references may seem obscure to some lay readers. Overall, an educational and (more important) enjoyable read, suitable for most library collections. Summing Up: Recommended. All general, academic, and professional audiences. * CHOICE * Adding these books to your library collection may bring a blush to the catalogers face, but, all joking aside, here are two volumes that place the two most formidable of body parts, the breast and the penis, in a cultural context. Neither book looks to exhaust its subject but to consider each organs role in art, history, medicine, literature, and society.Entries run the gamut of physiology to fashion, fetish to film, La Leche League to locker rooms. The majority of entries in each book are thoughtful, well-researched articles on a specific topic and the significance of the breast or penis to the topic. All are signed and come with see also references and a list of additional resources for further reading. Both books have browsable tables of contents instead of indexes. The volume on the penis contains more medical articles and includes entries on the vagina. Sample entries include Bris, Circle jerk, Plaster casters, and Spanish fly. Some entries in the breast volume feel like filler articles that dont advance or relate to the subject at all (see Barbie dolls or Red light districtsthe latter references breasts only very briefly). There are a few black-and-white photographs and illustrations in each volumeits useful to note that the graphic for Penis piercing is a line drawing, not a photograph. Both books treat their subjects seriously and with respect and are suitable reference works for most high-school and public libraries. * Booklist * Readers of [Playboy] magazine may be forgiven for thinking they know a thing or two about body parts. But with [this] new volume . . . [The] publisher shows there's always more to discover. . . .[W]e're not ashamed to admit we learned quite a bit. * Playboy * The book begins with a wonderful introduction by the editors that purports the encyclopedia to be presented in a Saussurean spirit of signifier/signified structuralism. The cover says it all: a clever trick that presents a penis-and-testicles motif that can also be seen as a torso and thighs. Indeed, this volume is replete with examples of the penis in the visual arts, literature, science, technology, medicine, archaeology, behavior, psychology, and more. The introduction is perhaps one of the most valuable readings in the book, as it reviews the multitudinous ways in which the penis can be imagined, manifested, symbolized, used, empowered, effeminized, and exploited. It is here that the reader is introduced to the many versions of the 'cultural penis,' as a primer for what is in store in the pages that follow. . . .I [found] a great deal of value in [the] topics. * Savage Minds * The book covers every conceivable area in which the penis plays a role, including myths (see Herm/Herma and Old Norse religion) legends (see papal testicles), religious texts

Michael Kimmel is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Stony Brook University where he also directs the Center for the Study of Men and Masculinities. His books include Angry White Men (2012), The Guy's Guide to Feminism (2011), Guyland (2008), Men's Lives (9th edition, 2013), and Manhood in America: A Cultural History (3rd edition, 2011).He is also founder and editor of Men and Masculinities, the field's premier scholarly journal. Christine Milrod, PhD, is a licensed psychotherapist and sexologist whose research includes transgender issues and clients of heterosexual prostitution. She practices sex therapy with emphasis on evolutionary psychology, sexual and (trans)gender identities, and socially constructed gender roles. She has published and edited social science journal articles, and translated fiction, subtitles and sociological writings from Swedish to English. Amanda Kennedy, MA, is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at Stony Brook University. Her research and teaching interests include race, gender, sexualities, and embodiment; her research is guided by poststructuralist and postcolonial feminism.

Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction Alphabetical List of Entries About the Editors and Contributors