Sophia C. reviewed on 12/28/2011 + 289 more book reviews

A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis is an informative, entertaining lay introduction to what is constantly referred to as "man's defining organ" by journalist-author David Friedman. It's full of "cool, I didn't know that" tidbits that one can share to impress friends over a round of beer, but strikes a relatively serious tone. Starting with ancient times, in each chapter Friedman relates how the penis, male sexuality, and at times masculinity itself were conceptualized as the chapter title, for example "Demon Rod," "Measuring Stick," and "Battering Ram." The earlier ones tightly tie the history to the metaphor, but this unravels a bit starting in the more modern chapters. I suspect this is because instead of discrete paradigm shifts, the narrative becomes more like a set of overlapping discourses. It's obvious in the feminist chapter—when the penis becomes politicized—the author clearly possesses one. He starts with the assumption that the penis is "man's defining organ" whereas I would want to ask why this is so, and analyze how that view affects cultural understandings of sex and gender. It would also be interesting to see what he would think of the first penile transplant in 2006 which the patient asked to be reversed two weeks later. Overall, I found A Mind of Its Own to be a fun but not totally substantial read about an inherently interesting topic.

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