Endowed: Regulating the Male Sexed Body

Feminist legal scholars and health care lawyers have long engaged with law’s responses to the female reproductive body, especially on what the legal regulation of women’s reproductive lives can tell us about the broader relationship between law and gender. Acknowledging this work and building upon it, Endowed considers the interaction of law and ideas of male reproductivity. In particular, it seeks to uncover what these regulatory moments can tell us about contemporary ideas and ideals of masculinity and the male sexed body. Spanning topics such as male circumcision and the regulation of state access to Viagra, the book uncovers recurring motifs that define masculinity and the male body in the legal imagination. In looking to these understandings the book engages with broader questions regarding the relationship between law and gender and between masculinity and social organization.

About the Author

Michael Thomson is Professor of Law, Culture, and Society in the School of Law, Keele University.