GUYnecology: The missing science of men's reproductive health

For more than a century, the medical profession has made enormous efforts to understand and treat women's reproductive bodies. But only recently have researchers begun to ask basic questions about how men's health matters for reproductive outcomes, from miscarriage to childhood illness. What explains this gap in knowledge, and what are its consequences? 

In this talk, Rene Almeling examines the production, circulation, and reception of biomedical knowledge about men's reproductive health. From a failed nineteenth-century effort to launch a medical specialty called andrology to the contemporary science of paternal effects, there has been a lack of attention to the importance of men's age, health, and exposures. Analyzing historical documents, media messages, and qualitative interviews, she demonstrates how this non-knowledge shapes everything from health care to reproductive politics.

About the speaker

Rene Almeling is Associate Professor of Sociology at Yale University with research and teaching interests in gender and medicine. Using a range of qualitative, historical, and quantitative methods, she examines questions about how biological bodies and cultural norms interact to influence scientific knowledge, medical markets, and individual experiences. 

She is the author of Sex Cells, an award-winning book that offers an inside look at the American market for egg donors and sperm donors. Her new book, GUYnecology, examines why there is so little attention to men's reproductive health and analyzes how this gap affects medical knowledge, health policy, and reproductive politics. Professor Almeling has received funding for her research from the National Science Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Her articles have appeared in American Sociological Review, Annual Review of Sociology, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, and Gender & Society.  During the 2019-20 academic year, she was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.  

Image: Book Cover from Associate Professor Rene Almeling's book 'Guynecology The Missing Science of Men's Reproductive Health'.