Wiccan Church of Minnesota News: Wednesday, March 02, 2005

"Research into medieval Icelandic gender and sexuality has found that even the heroes of Viking Age sagas were troubled by the thought that size really does matter.

Dr Carl Phelpstead of Cardiff University’s School of English, Communication and Philosophy presented a paper: ‘Size Matters: Penile Problems in Sagas of Icelanders’ to the International Medieval Congress, held in Leeds last week.

Dr Phelpstead analysed the cultural-historical significance of three remarkable accounts of penile problems in the texts know as ‘Sagas of Icelanders’, dealing with events supposed to have occurred in the 10th and 11th centuries. He undertook to see if Freudianism can illuminate the contents of these texts and found that, alongside some interesting differences, the meanings attributed to the penis in medieval Iceland are often remarkably similar to those of today.

Dr Phelpstead said: 'Accounts of penile problems in the Sagas of Icelanders shed light on the cultural work of the penis in early Iceland by representing what happens when a man’s penis is not appropriately sized or fully functioning. These narratives reveal a relationship between the male genitals and men’s identity that is both familiar and alien to us."

More at: News-Medical.Net:

Link Posted by WiCoM : 10:13 AM

Wiccan Church of Minnesota News

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Even the Vikings were troubled by the thought that size matters

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