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A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis
A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis
by David M. Friedman
Hardcover - 368 pages (October 30, 2001)
Free Press; ISBN: 0684853205
AMAZON - US
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...rwinanddarwini/
AMAZON - UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...humannaturecom/
David M. Friedman's A Mind of Its Own is a cultural examination of the penis,
from ancient Sumer to the present. Friedman convincingly suggests that
humankind's various and contradictory attitudes toward the penis have been
instrumental in mapping the course of both Western civilization and world
history.
Friedman begins with pagan attitudes: ancient Greeks considered the penis a
measure of a man's proximity to "divine power," while the Romans, whose
generals were known to promote soldiers based on penis size, saw it as an
indicator of earthly strength. Thanks to the spread of Christianity, the
"sacred staff became the demon rod"--a fearful manifestation of the devil.
Theology gave way, grudgingly, to science. In the Renaissance, anatomical
discoveries allowed for the possibility that this "agent of death" was, in
fact, only a "blameless instrument of reproduction." Subsequent chapters
discuss the penis's role as a racial yardstick; its "defining role in human
personality" as asserted by Freud; its politicization; and finally, through the
likes of Viagra, its objectification as a "thing ... impervious to religious
teachings, psychological insights, racial stereotypes and feminist criticism."
Friedman's study of what he calls the "symbolic muscle" is filled with
fascinating side trips (castration cults, ancient graffiti, the
anti-masturbation "semen-retention movement," aphrodisiacs through the ages,
and, to modern eyes, risible medical practices with the likes of monkey
glands), as well as a rich cast of characters (Leonardo da Vinci, John Kellogg
of cornflake fame, Kate Millet, Clarence Thomas, and Walt Whitman). The book is
informal, but well researched (and documented), entertaining but not cute,
wide-ranging but not sketchy, and simultaneously irreverent and
respectful. --H. O'Billovich
Book Description
Whether enemy or ally, demon or god, the source of satisfaction or the root of
all earthly troubles, the penis has forced humanity to wrestle with its
enduring mysteries. Here, in an enlightening and entertaining cultural study,
is a book that gives context to the central role of the penis in Western
civilization.
A man can hold his manhood in his hand, but who is really gripping whom? Is the
penis the best in man -- or the beast? How is man supposed to use it? And when
does that use become abuse? Of all the bodily organs, only the penis forces man
to confront such contradictions: something insistent yet reluctant, a tool that
creates but also destroys, a part of the body that often seems apart from the
body. This is the conundrum that makes the penis both hero and villain in a
drama that shapes every man -- and mankind along with it.
In A Mind of Its Own, David M. Friedman shows that the penis is more than a
body part. It is an idea, a conceptual but flesh-and-blood measuring stick of
man's place in the world. That men have a penis is a scientific fact; how they
think about it, feel about it, and use it is not. It is possible to identify
the key moments in Western history when a new idea of the penis addressed the
larger mystery of man's relationship with it and changed forever the way that
organ was conceived of and put to use. A Mind of Its Own brilliantly distills
this complex and largely unexamined story.
Deified by the pagan cultures of the ancient world and demonized by the early
Roman church, the organ was later secularized by pioneering anatomists such as
Leonardo da Vinci. After being measured "scientifically" in an effort to
subjugate some races while elevating others, the organ was psychoanalyzed by
Sigmund Freud. As a result, the penis assumed a paradigmatic role in
psychology -- whether the patient was equipped with the organ or envied those
who were. Now, after being politicized by feminism and exploited in countless
ways by pop culture, the penis has been medicalized. As no one has before him,
Friedman shows how the arrival of erection industry products such as Viagra is
more than a health or business story. It is the latest -- and perhaps final --
chapter in one of the longest sagas in human history: the story of man's
relationship with his penis.
A Mind of Its Own charts the vicissitudes of that relationship through its
often amusing, occasionally alarming, and never boring course. With
intellectual rigor and a healthy dose of wry humor, David M. Friedman serves up
one of the most thought-provoking, significant, and readable cultural works in
years.
>From Publishers Weekly starred review
"Over time, the penis has been deified, demonized, secularized, racialized,
psychoanalyzed, politicized and, finally, medicalized," declares freelance
journalist Friedman in a serious yet entertaining book that weaves together an
enormous amount of material. In the Greek and Roman worlds, statues of figures
with erections were commonplace, he observes, though by the Christian era, the
penis had become a source of evil and weakness. Doctors and scientists from da
Vinci onward "deflat[ed] the religious rhetoric" and scrutinized the male organ
sometimes with untoward results, as when American "semen science" led to the
creation of antimasturbation products such as Graham crackers. Western man's
fear of the African phallus undergirded colonialism and slavery, and resonates
to this day, Friedman argues, as was evident in the case of Clarence Thomas. If
some of Freud's case histories might be questioned, Friedman notes how the
psychoanalytic interpretation enduringly places the penis and associated
anxieties at the fulcrum of society. The rise of feminism put the penis in its
place, as The Hite Report pointed out the limits of conventional intercourse in
moving women to orgasm, and as Andrea Dworkin exposed penile pathology though
the author concludes that male sexuality arises more out of evolutionary
strategy than misogyny. His final and liveliest chapter concerns the
medicalization of the penis, culminating in Viagra. Even though Friedman quotes
a (female) sex therapist on the limits of such drugs, he concludes
optimistically that "the erection industry" has performed a paradigm shift,
allowing man to impose his will below his belt. The book has a few gaps --
there's little about the gay penis -- but it should reign as the seminal
treatment of this topic (and inspire many more puns).
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
>From Library Journal
An impressively research-prone journalist who has written for Esquire, Rolling
Stone, and the Village Voice, Friedman has prepared a catalog of happenings and
horrors perpetrated on the penis or in the name of the penis as an organ and as
an idea. His opening chapter about religious teachings begins with a ghastly
story about the torture of a witch who "knew the Devil's penis." Next come
Tissot and the medical antimasturbation mania, plus biological discoveries
about the organ. This is followed by an even more terrible and detailed
discussion of racist stereotypes and violence relating to supposedly
macrophallic Africans. Chapter 4 belongs to Dr. Freud, Chapter 5 to feminist
criticism, and Chapter 6 to Viagra and the erection industry since ancient
Egypt. Referenced in considerable (if not perfect) detail, the work could be
improved only by textual subheads and (perhaps) illustrations. A fascinating
and sobering complement to more lighthearted books, including Maggie Paley's
The Book of the Penis (Grove, 2001), Joseph Cohen's The Penis Book (Konemann,
2001), and Kit Schwartz's The Male Member (St. Martin's, 1985). Recommended for
collections in history, popular culture, and sexology. Martha Cornog,
Philadelphia
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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10-22-2001 01:21 AM
