Journal of Men’s Studies 1–17 © 2016 SAGE Publications Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1060826516671307 men.sagepub.com Article Grow a Pair! Critically Analyzing Masculinity and the Testicles Frank G. Karioris 1 , and Jonathan A. Allan 2 Abstract The testicles are remarkably important to the construction of male identity. We tell men to “grow a pair.” So what, we might ask, then is the place of the testicles in men’s studies? Truth be told, the testicles have not occupied significant attention in gender studies, and certainly not in the same way as the phallus has. This article, therefore, seeks to position the testicles as an object of study in the field of men’s studies. Keywords testicles, penis, masculinity, men’s studies, genitals, sexuality Man vainly forgets that his anatomy also includes hormones and testicles —Simone de Beauvoir This article sets to explore a very simple question about the male body: What about the testicles? 1 Although there are various body parts about which little scholarship is avail- able or about which critical theory has yet to be written, the testicles need to be part of what is central to masculinity. The question is less about the penis as a kind of symbolic form that represents the “whole package,” and more about the specificity of the testi- cles. This article sets out to put the testicles on the map in critical theories of men and masculinities. Although critical theory has spent so much time focusing on the phallus, we need to ask what facilitates this phallic state—the testicles. 1 American University of Central Asia, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan 2 Brandon University, Manitoba, Canada Corresponding Author: Jonathan A. Allan, Canada Research Chair in Queer Theory, Associate Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies, English and Creative Writing, Brandon University, 270-18th Street, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada R7A 6A9. Email: allanj@brandonu.ca 671307MEN XX X 10.1177/1060826516671307Journal of Men’s StudiesKarioris and Allan research-article 2016