ABSTRACT
This chapter shows the benefits of examining prostate care (something usually categorized as a “men’s health” concern) with feminist theory (something usually found in discussions of “women’s health” concerns). Drawing on the results of an interdisciplinary, medical humanities research project engaging anthropologists, historians, sociologists, STS researchers, and a sexologist over nearly a decade, this chapter views prostate health through a theoretical lens inspired by feminism. It argues that being sensitive to epistemological critiques, intersectional power dynamics, binary gender–sex categorizing practices, the norms of our built environment, and our relational ways of becoming and being in the world, shows how prostate health is much more complex than just a “men’s health” issue related to a gland. And it argues that a bit of feminist-inspired health activism that acknowledges the diversity of lived experiences of people with (and without) prostates would produce demands for better care options than those currently available within prostate health practices.
