Gender studies professor Lisa Jean Moore looks at sperm—in the same way that Mark Kurlansky looked at salt or Ellen Meloy looked at turquoise—as a way of understanding larger issues in our culture: masculinity, childbirth, sexuality etc. She writes, “It seems to me that there are several connections to be made between the increased knowledge about and control over sperm and the cultural anxiety men experience in contemporary societies.�
First off, I have to say that I’m a total sucker for this kind of approach. I think that looking at a microcosm in order to tackle a macrocosm is a brilliant way of getting at a complex issue, or in this case, series of issues. Writing about masculinity isn’t easy because it’s vast, culturally-specific, and always in flux. Moore finds a way in without dumbing things down.
Not only do I like Moore’s structure, her style is irresistible. She blends a very personal voice and journey (she and her wifey have conceived two daughters via IVF) with her background as a gender expert and rigorous researcher. It makes for a really rich read—one minute you’re at the playground with her daughter, the next you’re in the lab with a scientist studying the competition of ejaculating dungflies. Plus, Moore’s got a sense of humor, which really helps when you’re writing about sperm for 154 pages.
She focuses most on the history of sperm—scientifically and culturally, the way that sperm is explained in children’s books, the porn and sex industries, the medicalization and marketing of fertility, and sperm’s role in our justice system.
Ultimately, of course, it is a book about power. As Moore writes:
We live in a male-dominated world where most men have more power than most women, and where having a penis and producing sperm is valued. However, the increasing visibility and malleability of sperm undermines that power (i.e., women can now buy sperm, and sperm can now convict and imprison men). This power has been undermined so significantly that sperm can actually serve to emasculate men. Now that women can purchase sperm and now that they are protected from it as never before, technology offers women some measure of previously denied power.
Like whoa. Spooge never sounded so sophisticated.
Next week: Pin-Up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, and Popular Culture by Maria Elena Buszek
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This has been on my Amazon wish list for a while, now I look forward to reading it even more.
Interesting...Bitch recently reviewed two books about sperm, this was one of them. I remember one book was so-so and one was highly enjoyed.
This was the book the Bitch reviewer preferred, Moxie. It sounds interesting.
Agree, it sounds interesting and I am going to read it on your say so. From the blurb, I'm not sold on the analysis that modern usages of sperm have weakened men by: (1)women's ability to purchase sperm (this allows those women who want nothing to do with men to HAVE nothing to do with them, but it is implausible to envision a world where this is wide-spread), and (2) advances in science that use sperm to convict men of rape (it cuts both ways -- modern advances free men, too). I agree this is a male dominated world but not because of sperm per se, but rather for all sorts of reasons that don't stand up to modern scrutiny (including, frankly, male brute strength and certain socially undesirable effects of testosterone).
There was an interview with the author a few months ago in Salon if anyone cares to look it up in the archives.
"sperm can now convict and imprison men"
Hah, I'm juvenile. I picture a giant sperm cell arguing for the prosecution in a Law and Order-like courtroom.
Ms Pitt, what do you mean when you say that it cuts both ways -- modern advances [in science] free men, too?
Re: sense of humor.
I had a friend who did her masters thesis on the morphology of turtle sperm. She made a hideous ring shaped like a sperm and wore it until she finally finished it. She said that she was going to melt it when she was done.
Having one's life revolve around sperm apparently makes you go a little funny.
I just got this book. I'm glad someone is finally tackling this topic.
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