Conclusion

Summary

The NHS website has a dedicated section for ‘Men's Health’, and here men are directed towards answers for a series of questions: ‘How can I improve my chances of becoming a dad?’, ‘Why is my penis smelly and sore?’, ‘What is this lump on my penis?’, ‘What should my testicles look and feel like?’, amongst others. In the intervening years between the men seen in this book and the men of today, little has changed in terms of the illnesses that afflicted the body. Little also seems to have changed in the central place of fertility in discussions of men's genitourinary health. The first question on the website is about fertility/infertility. Concerns about the size, shape, and functioning of the genitals frame many of the other questions, and, again, this would imply little change, as men in the seventeenth century predominantly assessed their conditions through the meticulous observation of symptoms – swellings, rashes, discharge, and inflammation. What has changed is the presentation of these materials. Early modern medical information was presented in chapters neatly outlined with headings listing the disease discussed: hernia, lues venerea, strangury, priapism. On the NHS site men are gently guided towards disease types and conditions through questions that relate directly to their own experiences and perceptions of their bodies. Nonetheless, the overall motivation here reflects what we have seen on the part of early modern medical and surgical writers: the desire to convey authoritative and appropriate advice that will encourage men to seek the help of bona fide medical practitioners. Careful negotiation was needed both three hundred years ago and today to educate and treat men for intimate conditions that can potentially affect potency, fertility, and urination. The threads of similarity that draw together men in the early modern era and today are what make this topic so intriguing. Yet it is misleading to think that some things never change and that men were and are still harangued into caring about, talking about, and seeking help for their reproductive bodies.

There are frequent calls in today's society for men to be more open about their health and share concerns about their genitourinary health with friends, family, and confidantes. These campaigns are fostered by the enduring sense that some men consider it embarrassing or shameful to have genitourinary problems and talk about them.