The Male Member /māl membər/
Why men are so fixated with their members? And why do they find it so hard to talk about them?
British filmmaker Lawrence Barraclough attempts to answer these questions (among others) through the documentary My Penis and Everyone Else’s (UK, 2007, 56min).
Emotional, revelatory, and intensely engaging, this film takes on one of society’s last taboos and culminates in one of the most daring exhibitions ever seen in the UK, as Lawrence puts together the world’s largest collection of penis portraiture ever seen!
When: Tuesday, June 7th, 10:00-12:00pm
Where: ANSO 141
Why: Because we want to talk about Penises.
Until then, you can find out How Much Does Your Penis Size Matter and a few other Facts About the Penis.
We are looking forward to seeing you!
*** For those who didn’t make it to the screening, the film is available online as well as his first film, My Penis and I (UK, 2005, 57 min). ***
If you have any questions / suggestions, contact us at: reimaginingmasculinities@gmail.com
Reimagining Manhood 
I loved this film. Not only because the host is a charming character, but hes extremely passionate in talking about something that men are often uncomfortable about talking about: penises. I personally don’t have a penis, however, I’ve found that there are often times when I am more comfortable talking about them than those who have them! Im glad that some of thr links that are included are from buzzfeed, although their content isnt always the best, it is now definitely part of mainstream media. With that said, the more that thrse videos are distributed to millions of people, the more that Lawrence’s goals for mens health (physical and mental) can be accepted.
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I found the most illuminating aspect of our discussion to be the continued theme of competition in striving for an idealized and unattainable masculinity. While in some previous discussions these iterations of masculinity have been behavioural, such as exuding toughness, stoicism, or hyper-sexuality, the competitiveness and ensuing insecurities are tied to a body part which individuals cannot control. This competition, a literal “dick-measuring contest”, produces a lack of self worth which leads to extreme measures to try to “keep up”. In examples and statistics throughout the film even individuals above average size felt the need to be bigger, even undergoing dangerous and invasive surgical procedures. Much like our discussion of men’s body image, obsession with size and a need to be bigger can cause compromises to health- and all of this stems from an inner insecurity that can be traced to problematic constructions of masculinity.
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I found it very interesting in this video, and the discussion following, seem to continue a discourse of “larger than life” being the ideal for men. I loved this film, and intend to watch it with my partner, so that she can enjoy it as well. I found the ending genuinely heart warming, and the open discussion of such a taboo subject between men (and women too!) was something that I think is very healthy and much needed in our overly-shy society. This was perhaps not as personal a subject for me now, as I have, in my old age, grown comfortable with this aspect of my body, but I do recall the abject fear and paralyzing shyness that dominated me in my teenage years, and something like this film would have been a very helpful piece indeed!
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My favorite part of the discussion was when you insisted that I’ll stay when I wanted to give you some guys’ time. 🙂 Barraclough’s first film was about his issues with his penis’ size and the second was about the healing nature of getting people to talk about the issue – I thought that it was really interesting that while we watched the second, we actually ended up talking about size – in particular about women’s cock talk 😉
In a later conversation Stephen stated: Tal, Men are NEVER past the question of penis size 😉
So… should we keep on talking about it? Earlier this year, Juyson Gaddis posted a beautiful post titled: A letter to my cock. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.
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