This collection explores the impact of religion on the formation of men and masculinities in twentieth-century Britain. Religion is explored beyond the traditional boundaries of church worship and institutional structures to encompass the diverse cultures of male sexuality, home life, war, work, immigration, leisure and sectarian politics. Issues of change, such as the decline of single-sex associational settings, the theological shifts and changing fortunes of sects, the varying visibility of queer and homosexual cultures, and the shifting boundaries and collapsing distinctions between clergy and laypeople are explored in depth.
The author examines different forms of literature, such as plays, poems and life-writing, and compares these texts with the medical theories of the time. She describes how early modern English women related to their bleeding bodies, both in their menstrual cycles and at other times of transition, from menarche to menopause.