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Graduate Work-in-Progress: Wrecking Ball: A History of Testicular Cancer as Disruptor of Masculinity, 1906-2026

Image of smiling younger woman standing outside in front of tree wearing sleevelss black top with red scarf
December 1, 2026
Olivia Weiss

12 pm | Clark Hall Room 206 | 11130 Bellflower Road, Cleveland, OH 44106

In this talk, Olivia Weiss, doctoral candidate in History, will explore the emotional upheavals resulting from testicular cancer, and how patients’ emotions around masculinity and the male body change and evolve as the testicular cancer experience draws to a close. Using medical sources and patient narratives, this talk contextualizes the testicular cancer experience by showing how masculinity is complicated and compromised by diagnosis and treatment of testicular cancer. Understanding the malleable definitions of masculinity and their evolutions in recent decades can yield a clearer look at the experience of such a deeply gendered cancer. In alignment with the Baker-Nord Institute, this research connects to the human element of the history of cancer: how testicular cancer patients view themselves, and how testicular cancer puts a pause on “normal” life.

An informal lunch will be provided.

Registration is requested.  Register HERE.