Jonathan A. Allan

For media and publicity inquiries about Uncut: A Cultural Analysis of the Foreskin, please write to Madeleine Maillet, Marketing and Publicity Manager, University of Regina Press (Madeleine.Maillet@uregina.ca) and Grant Hamilton, Director of Marketing and Communications, Brandon University (HamiltonG@BrandonU.CA).

Jonathan A. Allan is Canada Research Chair in Men and Masculinities and Professor in the Department of English, Drama, and Creative Writing and Gender and Women’s Studies at Brandon University. Dr. Allan is an editor for Journal of Bodies, Sexualities, and Masculinities, interim editor of Boyhood Studies, and Vice-President of the American Men’s Studies Association. Dr. Allan sits on the Editorial Boards of Men and Masculinities, Journal of Men’s Studies, NORMA: International Journal for Masculinity Studies, Journal of Femininities, Journal of Popular Romance Studies, and Chasqui: Revista de literatura latinoamericana.

Dr. Allan’s research has long focused on the taboo and the obscene, or topics that might be understood as “unmentionable,” and most often in discussion with men and masculinities. Thus, his work explores how men’s bodies, for instance, are censored or made taboo. For example, he has recently explored men and the procreative realm, studying men’s infertility as well as vasectomy. Dr. Allan seeks to understand the nature of the taboo and the obscene while also highlighting the importance of the topics under consideration, for example, the relation between health and the taboo. In other work, Dr. Allan has considered the idea of nudity and nakedness, as well as the hints of the naked body (for example, underwear), to understand why this is (or is not) obscene. What connects all of this work is a curiosity about how obscenity is managed, understood, and challenged, as well as its limits.

His first book, Reading from Behind: A Cultural Analysis of the Anus (University of Regina Press, 2016), considered societal and cultural anxieties surrounding the butt, the rear, the ass, the anus.  His most recent book, Uncut: A Cultural Analysis of the Foreskin (University of Regina Press, 2024) provides an interdisciplinary study of the foreskin and circumcision. Instead of focusing on circumcision, Dr. Allan considers the foreskin, drawing on a wide range of sources (from sex manuals and pregnancy books to policy documents and scientific studies) to understand how it is discussed, represented, and understood. He continues to research the foreskin and circumcision. His article, “Reading Anti-Circumcision Activism in Clothed with the Sun: The Quarterly Journal of Clothes-Optional Living,” which appeared in the Journal of American Culture, received the Carl Bode Award for Outstanding Article (Popular Culture Association). This paper is part of his ongoing interest in anti-circumcision activism, particularly its history, which is fascinatingly complex and nuanced.

Dr. Allan is currently researching the Latin American literary genre known as the “novela del dictador,” (dictator novel) and its treatment of masculinity, recognizing how often the figure of the dictator is a man, and how often (though not always) these novels are written by men. Inherent to this project is a concern with the mobilization of masculinity and patriarchy to the ends of violence and repression in these novels. Across this study, Dr. Allan will read the major novels like El otoño del patriarca by Gabriel García Márquez, Yo, el supremo by Augusto Roa Bastos, El recurso del método by Alejo Carpentier, Cola de lagartija by Luisa Valenzuela, El Señor Presidente by Miguel Ángel Asturias, La novela de Perón by Tomás Eloy Martínez, as well as historical antecedents, such as, José Marmol’s Amalia and Facundo by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, and contemporary challenges to the genre, such as, The King of Cuba by Cristina García and Tengo miedo torero by Pedro Lemebel. This project will result in scholarly articles that will explore how masculinity is represented and how masculinity interacts with obscenity, the body, and perversion. 

Dr. Allan’s previous research has considered the role of men in the procreative realm, and he wrote Men, Masculinities, and Infertilities, which explored representations of men’s infertility. Additionally, he has written on men and contraception, most notably, the vasectomy.

Dr. Allan received his PhD from the Centre for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto. He holds a Master of Arts in Studies in Comparative Literature and the Arts from Brock University, a Master of Arts in Spanish Language and Culture from Queen’s University, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Spanish from Queen’s University.

Research Areas:

  • Critical Studies of Men and Masculinities
    • Theories of Masculinity
    • Men’s Reproductive and Sexual Health
    • Circumcision and the Foreskin
  • Literary and Cultural Studies
    • Affect, Psychoanalysis, and Feminist and Queer Theories
    • Sexuality, Eroticism, Obscenity, Pornography, and Censorship
    • Nudity, Nakedness, Nudism
    • Photography, Visual Culture, and Cinema
  • Research Ethics and Methods

Teaching Areas:

  • Twentieth-Century Literature (esp. the Novel)
  • American Literature (American Renaissance, 20th Century)
  • Latin American Literature and Cultural Production (19th and 20th Century)
  • Literary Theory, Criticism, and Method (esp. 20th century)
  • Comparative Literature
  • Critical Studies of Men and Masculinities

Research Funding: Canada Research Chairs (2014-2025), Brandon University Research Committee (2014-2016; 2016-2018; 2017-2019; 2019-2021; 2021-2023; 2023-2025), Romance Writers of America (2015-2016), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2016-2018; 2018-2020; 2019-2024; 2024-2026), Research Manitoba (2018-2020).

Upcoming Lectures

“Love in the Time of Dictatorship and Revolution.” International Association for the Study of Popular Romance. Mexico City, June 24-26, 2025.

“Researching Nudism and Naturism: Ethical Considerations.” Canadian Association of Research Ethics Boards. April 29, 2025-May 1, 2025.

Publications

Books and Edited Collections

Uncut: A Cultural Analysis of the Foreskin. Regina: University of Regina Press, 2024.

Men, Masculinities, and Infertilities. London: Routledge, 2022.

Men, Masculinities, and Popular Romance. London: Routledge, 2020.

Reading from Behind: A Cultural Analysis of the Anus. Regina: University of Regina Press, 2016; and, London: Zed Books, 2016. (Japanese translation appeared in 2018)

Virgin Envy: The (In)Significance of the Hymen. Regina: University of Regina Press, 2016; and, London: Zed Books, 2016. (with Cristina Santos and Adriana Spahr)

Inversions of Power and Paradox: Studies of Monstrosity. Oxford: Interdisciplinary Press, 2012. (with Elizabeth Nelson).

Forthcoming Publications

  • “‘So come on, folks, join the naturists and learn to love others’: Nudist Fantasies, Misconceptions, and Discourse in Facts on Nudism.” American Review of Canadian Studies.
  • “The Flight from the Feminine and Femmephobia in the Critical Study of Men and Masculinities.” Journal of Femininities.
  • “Fathers and Sons in Marcos Zimmermann’s Desnudos sudamericanos.” NORMA.
  • “The Spectre of Docking in Circumcision Debates.” Sexualities.
  • “Reading Sociopornographic Books: Genre and Dirty Work.” Porn Studies.

Select Publications (since 2021)

  • “Seeking Smut: Collaborations between Researchers, Librarians, and Interlibrary Loans in the Study of Sexuality and Desire.” Porn Studies 11.1 (2024): 51-68. (with Heather E. Tornblom)
  • “Fresa y chocolate: Heterosexuality, Paranoia, and Maricón Cinema.” Chasqui: Revista de literatura latinoamericana 53.1 (2024): 31-52.
  • “‘Condoms Break. Birth Control Fails’: Heroes in the Procreative Realm and Jessica Scott’s Anything for You.” Journal of Popular Romance Studies 13. Online.
  • “Reading Foreskin Quarterly: Aesthetics as Argument Against Circumcision.” Journal of Men’s Studies 32.1 (2024): 178-196.
  • “Reading Anti-Circumcision Activism in Clothed with the Sun: The Quarterly Journal of Clothes-Optional Living.” Journal of American Culture 46.4 (2023): 308-318.
  • “Softcore Romance: On Naked Heroes and Beefcakes in Popular Romance Novels.” Porn Studies 10.3 (2023): 283-298.
  • “Preputial Phantasies in Lisa Braver Moss’s The Measure of His Grief.” Northern Lights: Film & Media Studies Yearbook 21.1 (2023): 51-61.
  • “The Future of Historical Research in Popular Romance Studies.” Journal of Popular Romance Studies 12 (2023): Online.
  • “The Normal Foreskin: Puberty, Adolescence, and Growing Up.” Boyhood Studies 16.1 (2023): 1-17.
  • “‘Husbands are Pregnant, Too!’: Caring Masculinities in Pregnancy Books for Men.” Journal of Men’s Studies 31.2 (2023): 282-302
  • “Against Typologies: Affect and Masculinity Studies.” The Routledge Companion to Gender and Affect. Ed. Todd W. Reeser. Routledge, 2023. 43-54.
  • “‘Impossibly Erotic Things’: On Men’s Underwear in Brief Encounters by Suzanne Forster.” Critical Studies in Men’s Fashion 9.2 (2022): 207-222.
  • “‘The Easy Way Out’: Vasectomy in the Sociopornographic Imagination.” Performing the Penis: Phalluses in 21st Century Cultures. Eds. Meredith Jones and Evelyn Callahan. London: Routledge, 2022. 65-80.
  • “One Sexy Daddy: Desirable Dad Bods and Popular Romance Novels.” Fashionable Masculinities: Queers, Pimp Daddies, and Lumbersexuals. Eds. Vicki Karaminas, Adam Geczy, and Pamela Church Gibson. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2022. 83-95.
  • “Healing Toxic Masculinity in Popular Romance Novels.” New Frontiers in Popular Romance. Ed. Susan Fanetti. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2022. 17-30
  • “A Collaborative Multi-Method Approach to Evaluating Indigenous Land-Based Learning with Men.” International Journal of Qualitative Methods 21: 1-8. (Candice M. Waddell, Jason Gobeil, Frank Tacan, Marti Ford, Rachel V. Herron, Jonathan A. Allan, Madeleine L. Kruth, Stephanie Spence)
  • “‘A Most Unlikely Hero’: Disability and Masculinity in Popular Romance Novels.” The Male Body in Representation, eds. Carmen Dexl and Silvia Gerlsbeck. Palgrave MacMillan. 215-235.
  • “Rural Eroticism in Marcos Zimmermann’s Desnudos sudamericanos.” Chasqui: Revista de literatura latinoamericana 50.2 (2021): 49-67.
  • “Self-Improvement as Proof of Love in The Bromance Book Club.” The Routledge Companion to Romantic Love. Ed. Ann Brooks. London: Routledge, 2022. 162-172.
  • “Green Your Groin: Sustainability, Men’s Underwear, and the Wild.” Critical Studies in Men’s Fashion 8.1-2 (2021): 167-183.
  • “Identifying places that foster mental health and well-being among rural men.” Health & Place 71 (2021). (co-authored: Mairo Ahmadu, Rachel V. Herron, Jonathan A. Allan, Candice M. Waddell)
  • “Exploring Ageing and Time as Resources in Men’s Mental Health Experiences.” Ageing and Society (2021): 1-15. (co-authored: Kerstin Roger, Rachel V. Herron, Mairo Ahmadu, Jonathan A. Allan, Candice M. Waddell).
  • “Healing Journeys: Indigenous Men’s Reflections on Resources and Barriers to Mental Wellness.” Social Science and Medicine, 270 (co-authored: Candice M. Waddell, Margaret de Jager, Jason Gobeil, Frank Tacan, Rachel V. Herron, Jonathan A. Allan, Kerstin Roger)
  • “Circumcision Debates in Sexology Magazine (1934-1975).” Journal of Men’s Studies 29.3 (2021): 354-372.
  • “‘I never wanted my children to see their father the way I’ve seen mine’: Caring masculinities and fathering on the Prairies.” NORMA: International Journal for Masculinities Studies 16.1 (2021): 23-37. (co-authored: Jonathan A. Allan, Rachel V. Herron, Mairo Ahmadu, Candice M. Waddell, and Kerstin Roger)

Courses

  • 30.142: Indigenous Literatures in Canada (to be taught Winter 2026)
    • Cross-listed with Native Studies (68:142)
  • 30.250: The Long Novel
  • 30.338: Latin American Literature
    • Cross-listed with Francophone Studies and Languages (58:SPAN:338)
  • 30.348: The Joy of Text: Literature and Sexuality
    • Cross-listed with Gender and Women’s Studies (36:348)
  • 30.383: Between Men: Literature and Masculinities
    • Cross-listed with Gender and Women’s Studies (36:383)
  • 30.401: Censorship and Obscenity
    • Cross-listed with Gender and Women’s Studies (36:401)
  • 30.402: Erotica (to be taught Fall 2025)
    • Cross-listed with Gender and Women’s Studies (36:401)
  • 36.261: Diverse Masculinities
  • 36.366: Critical Readings in Gender (to be taught Winter 2026)