What defines the relationship between men, masculinities, and reproduction? While certainly not an easy question to answer, many people are nonetheless likely to have an intuitive reaction to it: men don’t have children, women do. However reductive this immediate statement might be, it also mirrors a pervasive and persuasive assumption that influences our ideas, lives, and politics. Nevertheless, within masculinity and gender studies specifically, but also in the social sciences and humanities more generally, a focus on men, masculinities, and reproduction is rare (Almeling, 2020; Culley, Hudson, & Lohan, 2013; Dudgeon & Inhorn, 2003; Inhorn, Tjørnhøj-Thomsen, Goldberg, & Mosegaard, 2009).
Looking through prominent journals in the field of masculinity studies – Men and Masculinities, The Journal of Men’s Studies, Psychology of Men and Masculinities, NORMA – reveals only a small number of articles on reproduction published since the mid-1990s (approximately 50-60). This is especially surprising given the overall explosion of scholarship in masculinity studies since then. Of these articles, around half are dedicated to issues of childrearing and fatherhood, about a quarter deal with issues of (in)fertility, and the last quarter of articles consist of contributions on topics such as contraception (including the male pill and vasectomy), abortion, semen, and ejaculation. As other scholars have pointed out, when broadening the scope beyond masculinity studies, other topics emerge (Marsiglio, Lohan, & Culley, 2013) such as men’s procreative desires and intentions or men’s participation in pregnancy and childbirth. Full text➜
The NORMA Editors have put together presentations with the authors of Men, Masculinities and Reproduction to further explore the article's topics. Watch the videos below, and read the Full Special Issue here➜
