For all the kids of the 80s.
Penises and Scrotums
Increase in pubic hair grooming injuries.
From the New Republic:
Pubic Hair Grooming Injuries Have Quintupled
The Brazilian wax has been on its way out for a while. But what may be its final death throe comes, according to the Atlantic Wire, in the form of unshaved mannequins on display at American Apparel.
Feminists and women who don't like pain have reason to celebrate, but here's another group that should embrace the natural trend: doctors. American society's aestheticization of hairless female genitalia apparently came at the cost of a veritable epidemic of grooming-related injuries. And while the Brazilian trend got lots of attention, the attendant carnage did not. Luckily, a team of doctors led by Allison Glass of the University of California, San Francisco, was on the case. For a 2012 paper in the journal Urology, theyanalyzed Emergency Room data on relevant injuries caused by pubic hair grooming related injuries and found:
- "Between 2002 and 2010, the number of injuries increased fivefold.
- Of the cohort, 56.7 percent were women. The most at-risk group was women aged 19 to 28.
- Shaving razors were implicated in 83% of the injuries.
- Laceration was the most common type of injury (36.6 percent).
- The most common site of injury was the external female genitalia (36 percent).
The dick pic critic.
From The Hairpin:
What I've Learned From My Side Job Critiquing Dick Pics By Madeleine Holden
In September this year, I woke up to an excellent dick pic. I can remember it quite clearly: it was a low-lit shot of a firmly-erect penis straining sideways through boxers, and I was thrilled to receive it: it was subtle, it wasn’t unsolicited, and it was unusually sexy for a Snapchatted cock shot. It also changed the trajectory of my life. I don’t want to send anyone’s ego out of the stratosphere by saying that, but it’s not really an exaggeration: after I received that photo, invigorated and shot through with dopamine, I tweeted about how rare and encouraging it was to receive a decent dick pic. That sparked an online conversation about how to improve the dismal state of dick pics—I would classify them as generally dull, artless and unsolicited—and that lead to my rise as the Internet’s most beloved dick pic critic.
I started Critique My Dick Pic(Not! Safe! For! Work!, and that goes for all links throughout) that same day; a blog with a simple, self-explanatory premise: men (and other people with penises) send me pictures of their dicks, and I critique them with love. “With love” refers to my policy of being neutral about the size of someone’s dick and refusing to shame sender’s bodies, but it’s not about being saccharine or coddling: I don’t mince my words when someone sends me a thoughtless, lazy shot (although I do still try to be somewhat encouraging and constructive).
The fact that I don’t critique actual dicks is difficult to fully communicate to men: I still get dozens of emails asking me for private dick reviews, and requests to describe the “perfect penis." That’s pointless to me, and I’m never going to do it. Just imagine it: imagine, for example, if I decided that the perfect dick is shaped like a coke can, and it’s uncircumcised, and it has visible veins (but not too many), and it’s rock hard and dead straight. Where does that leave people with thin dicks? Veiny dicks? Dicks that veer to one side? Are they supposed to feel shitty and miserable about a body part they can’t change because of the idiosyncratic ideals of some woman from New Zealand they were never going to fuck anyway? It’s nonsense. I find the idea of a “perfect dick” reductive and insidious, and I often have to underline the fact that I’m not here to critique dicks, I’m here to critique dickpics.
Read the rest here.
New TLC show: The Man with the 132-Pound Scrotum.
I'm not particularly comfortable with these styles of shows as they seem very exploitative (at least, to me). But I thought this might be of interest, given the discussions we had in class about anatomy and how it can influence our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, and our behaviour. I can't imagine what this experience must have been like for Mr. Warren.
From TLC:
This is the extraordinary story of Wesley Warren Jr, a 49-year-old Las Vegas resident who is living with a rare medical condition called scrotal lymphedema. His scrotum has grown so large that he is unable to walk normally, go to work, drive a car, or even wear pants.
While the cause of Wes’ scrotal lymphedema remains a mystery to doctors, he has been living with this painful condition since 2008. According to Wes, it all began one night with sharp shooting pain. Afterward, the tissue around his testicles began to swell and has been growing bigger ever since.
With his scrotum now so large that it’s making everyday tasks a challenge, he’s on a desperate mission to find a doctor who can perform the life-saving surgery he needs in order to get his life back.
And some clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyNkqfDLY5o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiFzfiOVG4A
Circumcision debate redux.
If you're at all interested in the debate about circumcision, the following two pieces are must-reads. The article from Slate by a freelance writer lays out all the points made by those who support circumcision, referencing the relevant research, and sharply criticizes those who speak out against it. The piece from the Good Men Project, written by an Oxford academic whose work includes psychology, philosophy, and ethics, is a response to the Slate article. It counters many of the points made and addresses the research cited.
So first, the article from Slate:
How Circumcision Broke the Internet
A fringe group is drowning out any discussion of facts.
By Mark Joseph Stern
There are facts about circumcision—but you won’t find them easily on the Internet. Parents looking for straightforward evidence about benefits and risks are less likely to stumble across the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention than Intact America, which confronts viewers with a screaming, bloodied infant and demands that hospitals “stop experimenting on baby boys.” Just a quick Google search away lies the Circumcision Complex, a website that speculates that circumcision leads to Oedipus and castration complexes, to say nothing of the practice’s alleged brutal physiological harms. If you do locate the rare rational and informed circumcision article, you’ll be assaulted by a vitriolic mob of commenters accusing the author of encouraging “genital mutilation.”
How did it come to this? For years, circumcision was a private decision, encouraged by many doctors, practiced by most families (in America, at least), but little discussed in the public sphere. Yet in the past two decades, a fringe group of self-proclaimed “intactivists” has hijacked the conversation, dismissing science, slamming reason, and tossing splenetic accusations at anyone who dares question their conspiracy theory. For doctors, circumcision remains a complex, delicate issue; for researchers, it’s an effective tool in the fight for global public health. But to intactivists, none of that matters. The Internet is supposed to be a marketplace of ideas, where human reason leads the best ideas to triumph. There are plenty of other loud fringe groups that flood the Internet with false information, but none of them has been as successful as the intactivists at drowning out reasoned discourse. In the case of circumcision, the marketplace of ideas has been manipulated—and thanks to intactivists, the worst ideas have won out.
Like most fringe groups, the anti-circumcision faction is almost comically bizarre, peddling fabricated facts, self-pity, and paranoia. The intactivists also obsess about sex to an alarming degree. Still, some of their tactics are shrewd. The first rule of anti-circumcision activism, for instance, is to never, ever say circumcision: The movement prefers propaganda-style terms like male genital cutting and genital mutilation, the latter meant to invoke the odious practice of female genital mutilation. (Intactivistslike to claim the two are equivalent, an utter falsity that is demeaning to victims of FGM.)
Read the rest here.
And the response from the Good Men Project:
An Open Letter to the Author of ‘How Circumcision Broke the Internet’
By Brian D. Earp
Dear Mr. Stern,
I recently read your article, “How Circumcision Broke the Internet” for Slate magazine [republished as "'Intactivists' Against Circumcision" in Canada's National Post]. I understand your concern about overheated rhetoric in public debates as well as the misuse of science to support untenable positions. As a scientist and ethicist who studies circumcision professionally, I will admit that I have seen this happen on both sides of this particular controversy. I think, however, that in your hurry to admonish “the intactivists” for pushing their anti-circumcision arguments too far, you may have fallen prey to some of that very same rhetorical excess (as well as misuse of science) in your own piece.
First, when you said that circumcision used to be “practiced by most families” I’m glad that you added the qualifier, “in America at least.” This is an important point. Circumcision is extremely uncommon in most parts of the world, and about 70-80% of men globally are left intact. Over 70% of those who are circumcised come from the Muslim world where it is done as a rite of passage; it is also a rite of passage in countries like South Africa, where at least 39 young men recently died from complications related to circumcision, such as excessive bleeding from their penises. Europeans, by contrast, (including the British; as well Latin Americans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, the Japanese, the Chinese, Russians, and Indians–that is, most of the developed world) very rarely circumcise outside of religious communities (if at all). A majority of doctors from these countries insist that any “health benefits” conferred by circumcision–even when the procedure is performed correctly–are dubious at best. In fact, 37 of Europe’s most pre-eminent medical authorities (along with the distinguished Canadian pediatrician, Dr. Noni MacDonald) have recently expounded on this point in the flagship journal Pediatrics:
Only one of the arguments put forward by the American Academy of Pediatrics [concerning potential health benefits for circumcision] has some theoretical relevance in relation to infant male circumcision; namely, the possible protection against urinary tract infections in infant boys, which can easily be treated with antibiotics without tissue loss. The other claimed health benefits, including protection against HIV/AIDS, genital herpes, genital warts, and penile cancer, are questionable, weak, and likely to have little public health relevance in a Western context, and they do not represent compelling reasons for surgery before boys are old enough to decide for themselves.
Read the rest here.
Penile implants: A trend in Filipino seafarers.
From the Atlantic:
The Strange Sexual Quirk of Filipino Seafarers
How the pressures of the shipping industry have shaped everything about this maritime culture. Right down to their penile implants.
[...]
Many Filipino sailors make small incisions in their penises and slide tiny plastic or stone balls -- the size of M&M's -- underneath the skin in order to enhance sexual pleasure for prostitutes and other women they encounter in port cities, especially in Rio de Janeiro. "This 'secret weapon of the Filipinos,' as a second mate phrased it, has therefore obviously something to do," Lamvik wrote in his thesis, "'with the fact that 'the Filipinos are so small, and the Brazilian women are so big' as another second mate put it.
According to University of California, Santa Cruz labor sociologist Steve McKay, who traveled extensively on container ships with Filipino crews in 2005 for his research on the masculine identity in the shipping market, raw materials for the bolitas can range from tiles to plastic chopsticks or toothbrushes. A designated crew member boils them in hot water to sterilize them, and then performs the procedure. There are also different preferred locations for insertion. Some have one on top or bottom, and others have both. One shipmate told McKay that others have four, one on top and bottom and on both sides, "like the sign of the cross." Another said: "I have a friend at home, you know what his nickname is?" McKay recalled. "Seven."
Read the rest here.
Debate.org: Circumcision.
Circumcision is a highly controversial procedure. The debate tends to be polarizing and is messy, in the sense that it represents the intersection of medicine, science, tradition, sexuality, aesthetics, religion, and politics. A recent debate at Debate.org asked, "Do females prefer males who have circumcised penises?" There are hundreds of responses. Here's a sample and the current results (which cluster around 50:50 over time). Click to make larger:
All of the other comments for and against here.
Evolution and the shape of the penis.
Some evolutionary psychologists have proposed a specific adaptive function for the shape of the penis. The argument is that the glans, and more specifically the corona, scrapes and plunges competitors' sperm out of the vagina.
Scientific American did a piece on the theory, with commentary from the various researchers working in the area. Here are some of the highlights from the article:
It turns out that one of the most significant features of the human penis isn’t so much the glans per se, but rather the coronal ridge it forms underneath. The diameter of the glans where it meets the shaft is wider than the shaft itself. This results in the coronal ridge that runs around the circumference of the shaft—something Gallup, by using the logic of reverse-engineering, believed might be an important evolutionary clue to the origins of the strange sight of the human penis.
“A longer penis would not only have been an advantage for leaving semen in a less accessible part of the vagina, but by filling and expanding the vagina it also would aid and abet the displacement of semen left by other males as a means of maximizing the likelihood of paternity.”
The answer, according to Gallup, is their penises were sculpted in such a way that the organ would effectively displace the semen of competitors from their partner’s vagina, a well-synchronized effect facilitated by the “upsuck” of thrusting during intercourse. Specifically, the coronal ridge offers a special removal service by expunging foreign sperm. According to this analysis, the effect of thrusting would be to draw other men’s sperm away from the cervix and back around the glans, thus “scooping out” the semen deposited by a sexual rival.
They also suggest that it's possible for a woman to get pregnant from a man she's never had sex with:
Gallup and Burch also leave us with a very intriguing hypothetical question. “Is it possible (short of artificial insemination),” they ask, “for a woman to become pregnant by a man she never had sex with? We think the answer is ‘yes.’”
If “Josh” were to have sex with “Kate” who recently had sex with “Mike,” in the process of thrusting his penis back and forth in her vagina, some of Mike’s semen would be forced under Josh’s frenulum, collect behind his coronal ridge, and displaced from the area proximate to the cervix. After Josh ejaculates and substitutes his semen for that of the other male, as he withdraws from the vagina some of Mike’s semen will still be present on the shaft of his penis and behind his coronal ridge. As his erection subsides the glans will withdraw under the foreskin, raising the possibility that some of Mike’s semen could be captured underneath the foreskin and behind the coronal ridge in the process. Were Josh to then have sex with “Amy” several hours later, it is possible that some of the displaced semen from Mike would still be present under his foreskin and thus may be unwittingly transmitted to Amy who, in turn, could then be impregnated by Mike’s sperm.
The full article, including a description of the study using various dildos, an artificial vagina and starch goo, can be found here.
Bubble tea ad.
A Thai ad for bubble tea, via Reddit:
Duck genitals and sex.
Genitals.
Two videos from Davey Wavey:
The Oblation Run.
Submitted by Paula (thanks!):
Every year at the University of the Philippines, the Alpha Phi Omega (APO) fraternity has the annual "Oblation Run", an APO (and UP) tradition since the 1970s when the Philippines was under Martial Law. The Oblation Run takes its inspiration from the symbol of the university, the statue of the Oblation (You can simply search the words Oblation UP), which is that of a man, with his arms outstretched, looking up to the sky, completely naked except for some leaves covering his penis. So you guessed it, the Oblation Run has members of the APO fraternity running through the halls of one of the most famous buildings in UP (at least in the Diliman Campus, other branches of UP have the same run but I don't know where they have their route), the Palma Hall, which is the home of the college of Social Sciences and Philosophy, completely naked (but with masks covering their faces). It happens every December, to celebrate (If I remember correctly) the foundation date of APO which is also in December. During the run, the halls are full of people, of all ages, and you do notice more girls (haha) in the mix, which is related to another tradition during the run itself. You'll see the men running holding roses and they give those roses out to girls. I was told as a freshman then that the roses are given out to the prettiest girls (I don't know if that was true but that was the supposed story behind the roses) and some girls studying in the University have it on their "Before I graduate UP list" to get a rose from a frat guy running the Oblation Run. Now the biggest reason they have the Oblation Run is to shed light on issues in the country, as UP is a university known for its protests, and a lot of students are activists as well [because it's the state funded university]. In 2009, when I was a freshman, the biggest issue was the Maguindanao Massacre where about 60 journalists were murdered, allegedly by the family of the governor of one of the provinces to the south. But anyway, the biggest thing that's important about the run is that they use their bodies to draw attention to issues. It's a huge event every year, and people do go to the university just to see it in December and it's always covered by all the big media giants in the country. (I have a video somewhere, but it's not as good as some of the ones I found on Youtube, because these people were actually IN FRONT where you get a good view).
NSFW!
And a news clip from 2009:
It says that once again, people flocked to see the annual Oblation Run of the APO Fraternity at the University of the Philippines, but this year, there seems to be a deeper meaning to running naked, because they believe that this will help bring about changes in the midst of crisis in the country.
You can see in that video that girls are squealing, covering their faces (quite hilarious that at 0:33 the girl is covering herself with a paper mask of the current vice president of the Philippines. Apparently, that year, I can't remember if it was the 50th or 100th anniversary of the fraternity and Vice President Binay was apparently participating in the run as well, which would be quite the sight because... yeah. But I'm not sure if he was there because you can't tell the guys' faces because of the masks... unless of course you know them by their penises which would be quite hilarious), and yes even guys were squealing. The girl interviewed says "It's much bigger this year than last year!!!". The guy says that he loved seeing "the show" (I forgot the english equivalent of the word kinilig), and more girls loved getting the aforementioned rose (including a couple of foreigners who I guess went to the university just to see it... not a rare sight at that time haha) But the biggest reason for the run is to shed light on the issues.
Phimosis, treated.
From The Mystery Box Show:
New app: The Predicktor.
From the Huffington Post:
'Predicktor' App Predicts Men's Penis Size Based On Personal Stats
A new "medical prediction" app aims to help you easily uncover what really comes between a boy and his Calvins.
Reportedly developed by a Toronto-based family physician, "The Predicktor" attempts to predict a man's penis size, using stats such as his height, sexual orientation and finger length while cross-referencing trends from scientific studies, according to its website.
Though the site stresses that the app is strictly for humorous purposes, Dr. Chris Culligan nonetheless tells Raw Story he also hopes the Predicktor to dispel myths and relieve the "penis-related insecurity, anxiety or dissatisfaction" men have about themselves.
“It’s not how long your pencil is, but how you write your name,” he says, quoting his father.
Though he says a man's race "has never been shown to be related to penis size in any reasonable published study," Culligan refers to studies that found that many gay men have longer, thicker genitalia than heterosexual men on average. “Gay pride just got a little prouder,” quipped Culligan.
At present, the app is only available for Androids. Check out its website for more information.
And the intro video:
Oprah and the foreskin cream debacle.
From 24hrs:
Oprah faces protest for using wrinkle cream made with foreskin
She wrangled the truth out of Lance Armstrong about using performance-enhancing drugs but a Vancouver group wants Oprah Winfrey to explain why she has endorsed an anti-wrinkle cream made with human foreskins.
Winfrey, who rose from poverty to own her own television network, will make her first appearance in Vancouver on Thursday before a sold-out crowd at Rogers Arena, with fans paying up to $350 a ticket for a chance to see the TV mega-host live.
But as the crowds pack into the stadium, Glen Callender, founder of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, will be outside with his supporters protesting Winfrey's support of SkinMedica.
Callender says it’s hypocritical of Winfrey to speak out against female genital mutilation, while at the same time saying it’s all right to rub on a face cream made from foreskins from circumcised infant males.
“Imagine how Oprah would respond if a skin cream for men went on the market that was made from parts of the genitalia of little girls,” Callender said. “That would be an outrage and rightly so.”
Callender expects “a dozen to two dozen people” to attend the protest.
Advertisements for SkinMedica say Winfrey has described the product as her “magic fountain of youth and miracle wrinkle solution.” Winfrey didn’t immediately respond to an email asking for comment, but her website recommends the product to deal with wrinkles.
The makers of SkinMedica have said to make their cream they use foreskin fibroblast — a piece of human skin used as a culture to grow other skin or cells.
“I would like Oprah to come to her senses and realize that all children have a fundamental human right to keep all their genitalia and to decide for themselves if anything gets cut off,” Callender said Wednesday.
Callender describes the Foreskin Awareness Project as Canada's “feistiest pro-foreskin advocacy group” with the goal of “foreskin education and appreciation.”
“We’re not an anti-circumcision group,” he said. “What we are against is circumcision being forced on people without their consent.”
And the results from a poll at the bottom of the article:
The foreskin factor.
From the Tyee:
Foreskin Facecream
And it's not the only body part on the chopping block for vanity. Ethical?
In an article for The Tyee, Dr. Paul Tinari estimated that a single male foreskin can be worth upwards of $100,000. He argued that men who are circumcised have a right to the revenue made off the resale of their foreskins (just as someone who sells their hair for wigs would, for example).
But that's not the only issue in the debate over how people use and profit from foreskins. Many people are challenging the ethics and medical necessity of male circumcision, which means that any use of the foreskins after that is also in question. Then there's the fact that foreskins aren't just being sold for the medical flesh trade; rather, they're joining a few other body parts being sold in the service of vanity. And if the ethics of using human body parts, skin and stem cells for medical research and treatments are contentious, the ethics of using them for vanity's sake is a whole other conundrum.
[...]
That's because foreskin fibroblasts are big business. A fibroblast is a piece of human skin that is used as a culture to grow other skin or cells -- like human yogurt kits. Human foreskin fibroblast is used in all kinds of medical procedures from growing skin for burn victims and for eyelid replacement, to growing skin for those with diabetic ulcers (who need replacement skin to cover ulcers that won't heal), to making creams and collagens in the cosmetics industry (yes, the product that is injected into puffy movie-starlet lips).
Foreskin-derived skin, sourced from circumcisions (now considered by many experts to be painful and also unnecessary) is still often considered the "cruelty free" alternative to testing cosmetic products on animals. One foreskin can be used for decades to produce miles of skin, much of which helps people in genuine medical need.
Read the rest, including discussions about sourcing foreskins, the ethical implications, how they're used, etc. here.
No reason boners.
Slightly NSFW:
A love story.
From hypervocal:
The Love Story of a Man and a Woman with Two Sets of Genitals Each
(Probably NSFW.)
Blanche Dumas, born to French and Caribbean parents, was a high-class Parisian courtesan in the late 1800s. She was uniquely qualified for her line of work: Attached to her lower back was a third leg, and her wider-than-normal pelvis contained two bladders, two bowels and, yes, two vaginas. Her doctors noted that both sets of ladyparts had “equally developed sensations.” They also commented on her sex drive, which was “markedly pronounced,” and, they confirmed, “coitus was practised in both vaginae.”
[...]
While living in Paris, Dumas met Juan Baptista dos Santos, a Portuguese man with a “ravenous” sexual appetite. Like Dumas, he happened to have a third, nonfunctional leg, which he kept in a sling or tied to his thigh. And like Dumas, he also had a second set of genitals.
“Juan was considered quite handsome, fit and well proportioned,” writes The Human Marvels, which adds, “Both penises functioned perfectly. An 1865 report stated that Santos used both penises during intercourse and, after finishing with one he would continue with the other.”
Diphallia, known as penile duplication, is a condition in which a male is born with two penises. Only 1,000 cases have ever been reported. One in 5.5 million men in the United States has two penises.
Read the rest of the articles and see the other photos here.
Another new study on pubic hair styling.
From the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
Abstract:
Introduction. Pubic hair removal is prevalent among women in the United States. However, most studies related to pubic hair removal are based on cross-sectional surveys and retrospective recall. Aim. The purpose of this research was to, in a prospective event-level daily diary study, assess demographic, affective, relational, situational, and behavioral factors related to women's pubic hair removal. Method. Data collection occurred as part of a 5-week prospective, Internet-based daily diary study. Main Outcome Measures. Age; Affective predictors (positive mood, negative mood, feeling interested in sex, feeling in love); Relational predictors (partner support, partner negativity, partner type, partner gender); Situational predictors (any vaginal symptoms, use of any vaginal hygiene products; having applied any creams to the genitals); Behavioral variables (penile-vaginal sex, penile-anal sex, had finger inserted into vagina, had clitoris stimulated with fingers, inserted toy into vagina, used vibrator on clitoris, inserted finger into anus, inserted toy into anus, duration of penetration, intensity of penetration). Results. A total of 2,453 women ages 18 to 68 (mean age 32.69) completed the study, contributing 49,287 total diaries (mean per person 24.5; standard deviation 10.3, median 30); 15.2% of all days (N = 7,362) involved pubic hair waxing or shaving, with the vast majority of hair removal days involving shaving (N = 7,302; 99%). Pubic hair removal was significantly associated with younger age, a greater interest in sex, vaginal fingering, finger-clitoral stimulation, having a casual sex partner, using vaginal hygiene products, and applying cream to the genitals. Hair removal was marginally associated with longer duration of vaginal penetration. Conclusions. These findings provide greater insight into the factors associated with women's pubic hair removal and their sexual experiences on a day-to-day level. Clinical and educational implications are discussed.
Full reference:
Herbenick, D., Hensel, D., Smith, N.K., Schick, V., Reece, M., Sanders, S.A., & Fortenberry, J.D. (2012). Pubic Hair removal and sexual behavior: Findings from a prospective daily diary study of sexually active women in the United States. Journal of Sexual Medicine. doi: 10.1111/jsm.12031. [Epub ahead of print]
Another public service announcement - dick pics.
Posted in the comment section this week by a past student (thanks!):