June 1, 2007
Impotence and Virginity Through the Ages
THE TROUBLE WITH MEN: Impotence was with us long before Viagra and Cialis. And curing it has never been quite as simple as popping a pill, reports Angus McLaren in Impotence: A Cultural History (University of Chicago Press).
The affliction has been explained over the centuries as the result of excessive masturbation, coitus interruptus, or shell shock. Men have also often found ways to blame women — such as attributing impotence to the Oedipus complex.
Mr. McLaren, a
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