The Past, Present, and Future of Male Reproductive Health

Decades of research by social scientists and historians demonstrate that all bodily processes and body parts are both fundamentally biological and fundamentally social. That is, it is not possible to see or study or discuss male reproductive health apart from the historical, cultural, and political processes through which it is constituted. In this article, sociologist Rene Almeling examines the history of inattention to male reproductive health and its clinical and social consequences, including for medical education and research, reproductive health care, public health policymaking, and reproductive politics. She discusses the complexities that can arise from efforts to more fully attend to male reproductive health. These include how to avoid repeating mistakes made in public health messaging about female reproductive health, taking into account changing approaches to sex and gender as well as how they intersect with social inequalities of race and class, and the constraints of focusing on male reproductive health when access to abortion and contraception is under severe threat for people who can become pregnant. Given the longstanding associations of reproductive health with female bodies, it will take a great deal of effort across many sectors-everything from high school sex education and medical curricula to corporate boardrooms and newsrooms-to pay more attention to male reproductive health, which has the potential to improve men's own lives and the lives of their children.