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Essays from more than thirty experts on the complexities and controversies at the nexus of sperm, health, and politics.
New York University Press (2025) In Seminal, experts from across the social sciences, humanities, law, and medicine offer a kaleidoscopic view of the relationship between sperm, health, and the intersecting politics of gender, race, and reproduction. Always insightful and often provocative, the essays in this unprecedented collection cover a broad range of issues related to male reproductive and sexual health—including the latest technological developments for creating sperm; the specter of eugenics in contemporary medical markets; emerging approaches to male contraceptive methods, male infertility, and trans healthcare; controversies surrounding sperm donors and sperm banking; disparities in sexual health education for teens—all the while attending to the enormous variation in how individuals and societies understand, embody, and experience sperm. At a time when the most basic rights of reproductive autonomy are under severe threat, contributors to this volume argue this is precisely the moment to rethink and reimagine sperm from a variety of medical, political, and cultural perspectives. Ultimately, this volume aims to contribute to a more reproductively just society and broaden conversations around bodies, health and equity in the United States. |
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Visit the publisher's website (here) to review the table of contents and buy the book.
Watch the online book launch for Seminal via YouTube. Includes introductory comments from the three editors and brief remarks from six contributing authors. Length: 1 hour Date: June 18, 2025 Closed Captioning Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nak7tDsGdHk |
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From the back cover...
"Seminal brilliantly offers sperm as a microcosm for the storm of issues, both biological and social, provoked by the ascendance of the idea of a crisis in masculinities. With gametic and contraceptive politics surging, there is no better introduction to the intersection of sex, gender, reproduction, biology, and health than this timely and accessible collection." ~Sarah S. Richardson, author of The Maternal Imprint: The Contested Science of Maternal-Fetal Effects
"This unique edited volume brings together a strikingly diverse set of experts who collectively cast doubt on many received wisdoms about sperm, masculinity, and the biological and cultural aspects of gender, sexuality, reproduction, and health. The remarkably wide array of topics will make this a go-to volume for many readers interested in different aspects of sperm, health, and politics." ~Steven Epstein, author of The Quest for Sexual Health: How an Elusive Ideal Has Transformed Science, Politics, and Everyday Life
"By exploring such topics such as fertility, contraception, and sexuality, Seminal considers the biological and social aspects of how sperm is used, made, counted, regulated, and sometimes commodified. These themes are viewed through the lens of reproductive justice and health care inequities. Seminal is an important and timely contribution that reminds us that behind every sperm is an individual with a certain positionality in society." ~Paula Amato, MD, Former President, American Society for Reproductive Medicine
"Seminal brilliantly offers sperm as a microcosm for the storm of issues, both biological and social, provoked by the ascendance of the idea of a crisis in masculinities. With gametic and contraceptive politics surging, there is no better introduction to the intersection of sex, gender, reproduction, biology, and health than this timely and accessible collection." ~Sarah S. Richardson, author of The Maternal Imprint: The Contested Science of Maternal-Fetal Effects
"This unique edited volume brings together a strikingly diverse set of experts who collectively cast doubt on many received wisdoms about sperm, masculinity, and the biological and cultural aspects of gender, sexuality, reproduction, and health. The remarkably wide array of topics will make this a go-to volume for many readers interested in different aspects of sperm, health, and politics." ~Steven Epstein, author of The Quest for Sexual Health: How an Elusive Ideal Has Transformed Science, Politics, and Everyday Life
"By exploring such topics such as fertility, contraception, and sexuality, Seminal considers the biological and social aspects of how sperm is used, made, counted, regulated, and sometimes commodified. These themes are viewed through the lens of reproductive justice and health care inequities. Seminal is an important and timely contribution that reminds us that behind every sperm is an individual with a certain positionality in society." ~Paula Amato, MD, Former President, American Society for Reproductive Medicine
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Sperm | Health | Politics Workshop Yale University April 2023 In Spring 2023, sociologist Rene Almeling (Yale), bioethicist Lisa Campo-Engelstein (UTMB), and physician-scientist Brian T. Nguyen (USC) organized an interdisciplinary convening to bring together a range of perspectives on questions at the nexus of sperm/health/politics. Social scientists, physicians, ethicists, and advocates drafted and discussed thinkpieces on topics such as “male” infertility, “male” contraception, "paternal effects" on reproductive outcomes, and reproductive and sexual healthcare.* An edited volume titled Seminal: On Sperm, Health, and Politics will be published by New York University Press in Spring 2025.
*We have put words like male and paternal in quotes to indicate we are not taking for granted the meaning of these terms. We recognize that language in these realms remains fraught, imprecise, and in flux, so please note our aim is to be inclusive of all gender identities. |
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