"Mammà, tutto è fatto!". Impotenza maschile e unioni coniugali in Italia alla fine dell'ottocento

• DOI: 10.1408/76674
• Publication Date: 2014-01-01
• Authors: RIZZO, Domenico

The regulations over civil marriage in post-unification Italy envisioned the possibility of annulling a union for reasons of sexual impotence of one of the spouses. This article examines a series of judicial proceedings for annulment on grounds of male impotence and, in particular, the medical -legal expertise that was adduced over the course of a case. The sexual incapacity of a husband and its consequences reveal how the body was conceptualized through a dense nexus between subjectivity, family ties, and social norms. In addition, the difficulties inherent in the medial -legal trial raise the problem of the relationship between doctors and jurist in the tribunal and, above all, enable us to investigate the change that the growing influence of psychiatrists played in the outcome of cases.