In clerical discourse in the high Middle Ages – a discourse that shaped a male model for laity – masculine identity seemed to be in a continual struggle between extraordinary capacity and sinful failure. Exegesis suggested Adam before the original sin as a perfect model of masculinity, embodying the power of the spirit to master the body and sexual desires. Impotence, by contrast, was described as a defect of manhood in pastoral and penitential literature, as a lack of gender identity. The cures for impotence suggested recovering control of will upon the body in the conjugal context, through abstinence and moderate sexuality following Tobias. This biblical example, given to husbands, resembles Adam before the original sin. Its behaviour was highly recommended to the laity.