The Beauty of Male Genitals

Gender and Sex, Sexuality

I’ve noticed that this post was linked to on Reddit and is getting a lot of views, so I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thanks for visiting and formally welcome all new readers to my blog. I hope you enjoy yourselves, and feel free to ask for any clarifications or join in the numerous ongoing conversations in the comments!

Recent conversations on other blogs have tuned me into a new opinion that I never really considered before: That penises are ugly.

It was not only women who were saying this…men, it seems, also don’t see their members as being particularly nice looking. I was shocked. As someone who looks at their vulva nearly everyday (and thinks it’s quite lovely), it came as a surprise to learn that men suffer from the same issue that so many women do. Namely, that genitals are ugly, or at least not something worth viewing. Why is this, and why are men not being told that their sexual organs are beautiful like women finally are?

There is a cornucopia of female-genital empowerment to choose from. Everything from a wall of plaster cast vulvas, to women being given mirrors to look at themselves, to artwork being displayed openly in certain major museums. I’m happy that American culture is starting to accept that the female sex is a thing of beauty, but as with most improvements there remains a double standard. In this case, the male sex is not being given the same attention, which can and does lead to boys (and adult men) living with poor body image.

I say it is time to stop this. Male genitals are often compared to weapons or spoken of in terms of doing harm, when the truth is the overwhelming majority of men will never even consider hurting their partner, sexually or otherwise. Despite this fact, an erect penis is portrayed as something to be feared or hated, while a flaccid one is to be mocked and condemned. Rather than a symbol of male passion, the penis is made out to be a shameful reminder of male sexual entitlement and entire audiences laugh when grotesque mutilation is done to them. Instead of a totem of virility, testicles are rarely mentioned outside of crude physical humor that involves their harm.

I’d much rather that the testicles be appreciated for the soft feel of the delicate skin, and their deliciously enticing small movements when gently caressed. I wish for penises to be treasured for the vulnerable strength they are composed of, for the feelings a male can receive from purposeful strokes or light twists. I want boys and men to be proud of their sexuality (whatever it’s orientation), and to love it for the fact it is a needful part of the continuation of our species as well as a font of physical, sensual, and even emotional gratification.

Perhaps most of all, I hope that our culture can cease it’s judgment of a man based on his ability to obtain and keep a sexual partner. The worth of a man is not in whether he shares his seed, just as the worth of a woman is not tied to whether she gives birth. It is in the lives we live for ourselves…and whether we stay true to our dreams, better ourselves through experience and trials, and reach our goals.

Sexuality is a large part of most people’s lives, and is a beautiful aspect of Life. Let us treat it as such, and have just as much respect for the sacredness of the male genitals as we do for the female.

Related Posts
https://tarnishedsophia.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/pathways/

https://tarnishedsophia.wordpress.com/2014/07/04/a-response-to-a-virgin/

https://tarnishedsophia.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/my-views-on-bdsm/

https://tarnishedsophia.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/great-reasons-to-masturbate/

59 thoughts on “The Beauty of Male Genitals”

  4. Totally agree. I don’t understand the dislike some people have for their genitals (seems to apply to both sexes though). I also hate this nasty expression some people use for sex – “bumping uglies”. Ugh! Such a turn-off.

  5. Wasn’t there a time in prehistory when the Goddess was revered?
    There have been statues and cave drawings about the sacred Goddess who
    “feeds her flock,” those small figureens with enourmous breasts.
    There’s certainly a lot of subliminal depections of both male and female
    genitals in advertising to sell products.
    To be called a genital name in this society is an insult-particularly for a man.
    To be called a D–K or a P—Y, or for a woman to be called a C–T.
    We have a love/hate relationship with sex. A man thinks about sex every 6
    seconds, and a female thinks about sex every 15 seconds.
    For all of men’s obsession about sex, they are mostly grossed out by
    women’s bodily functions and ignorant of how women’s bodies work.
    They live for the act, but don’t have much reverance for who they do the
    act with.

  6. Nahh I’m going with genitals are ugly – and they’re position isn’t so great either 🙂 Sex is awesome and the female – and male – body is great but I’m not on board with this whole denial of the fact that sex is also a bit gross and the body is also a bit gross. It’s all part of the package and we should accept the good and the bad wholeheartedly without whitewashing any of it. Sex is a mixed blessing – sure, a bit icky, but also incredibly awesome. Lets accept the realities of the human experience in their messy and contradictory splendor. The human body is divine and godlike but also frail and decrepit. And I find nothing wrong with that 🙂

  7. So, not a US thing to call it ‘the last turkey in the shop’ then?
    I.e. the one so ugly nobody wanted to buy it.

    Another cultural exchange courtesy of Uncle Spawny. I do spoil you so.

  9. @Rob

    Interesting point of view. I personally don’t find genitals ugly, or their fluids gross, but I find myself agreeing with your acceptance of them nonetheless.

  10. Well, in my religion the Goddess is *still* revered. However, the Horned God is too…balance must be kept after all. Can’t have men without women and vice versa.

    I have seen a good number of men who are the type of hypocrites you describe: Always talking about how great they are to have sex with, yet how slutty or easy the women are that said sex is enjoyed with.

    A good saying that I found the other day kind of speaks to the contradiction of this thought pattern: “If you consider a woman to be a dirty whore after having sex with you…what does that say about you?”

  11. Should have explained more fully. The shop is a butcher’s. The turkey is plucked and hanging head down…

    I’ll learn yer ‘ow ter speak propa, Tarn. Fink nuffink of it, me ol’ mucker. I’d be chuffed ter bitz ter do it, an no error, me ol’ china.

    Hear endeth the first lesson.

  13. Mucker? Friendly term.

    Chuffed to bits? Filled to the brim with enthusiasm/happiness

    China? China plate…mate. Rhyming slang.

    Strewth Tarn it in’t ‘ard, nah wot I mean, like?

    Chuffed to bits is an entirely nice thing to say, not rude at all, but beware ‘up yer chuff’ which is basically ‘you can stick that up your aerosol’
    (Think that’s how you spell it)

  15. Dear Tarnished,
    (I again reiterate that a wonderful person like you is ANYTHING but
    “TARNISHED,” and only an INSANE man would want to “go his own way” after
    knowing a person like you.)
    I’d like to call your attention to a film called “The Wicker Man” (1973).
    Being that you are a Wiccian, it might interest you. If you do have time to see it,
    I’d like your opinion. Also, I wish you would listen to a love song titled,
    “You’re My World,” by Celia Black. That ties into your ideas about touch.

  23. @Spawny Get

    Yours has a weightier authority behind it (oxford vs urban).

    All I can do is shake my head and utter, “Not ‘struth? Strewth!”

  24. Getting back to the subject at hand (I blame you, Spawny, for dragging me away):

    Appearance-wise, the male member is just another part of the body. If I’m going to find it ugly, I’ll have to find the rest of me ugly too, especially since every part of me is erogenous! One big dick, you might say 😎

  27. I saw a film yesterday titled “Walk The Line.” Tarnished IS Reese Witherspoon,
    who played June Carter Cash. A salt-of-the-earth type. An asset to ANYONE’S
    life. A fool wanting to “go their own way,” after knowing her?-NOT!

  29. “Lon, you’re making me blush!”
    Cool, love hearing you just going where your feelings take you. No rules!

  30. Aphrodite, the Goddess of love and beauty, was born when Cronus cut off his father Uranus’s genitals and threw them into the sea, and she arose from the sea foam.
    True story.

  31. I know that an optimistic attitude is ALWAYS better then a pessimistic one.
    People should always see the glass half full as opposed to half empty.
    That’s what the films from the “Golden Era” of Hollywood empathised.
    I went into my room at 12 years of age. I lived in N.Y.C. I would watch
    “The Movie at 12″ The Movie at 2,” “The Movie at 4″ The Movie at 6” No one
    could stop me. Passive/agression is harder to fight then outright agression.
    (Antisocial behaviour.)
    Everything in society is geared to fighting agression. Nothing is geared to
    fighting passivity. “Go to your room!’ “Thank You!
    Those old movies from the late 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s were classics. They had
    to work around censorship laws, so they had to strive for a quality product.
    Those films could give you an inspiring feeling. You DID get the impression
    good would win out.
    I don’t think those two 12 year old girls that tried to sacrafice the other girl
    to “Slender man,” should spend years in prison.
    As a person who avoided most social contact at the age of 12, I can attest that
    the brain is NOT completely developed at that age, and a person really could
    believe the “Slender man” story.
    Why ruin the lives of those girls. I hate to see other’s making the mistakes
    I did.

  32. Talking about severed members, the independence vote is nigh! I’ve some Scottish as well as some English ancestry… Any of you on the ground over there in the UK, what’s the mood? Does the man in the street take it seriously?

  33. “if you know about your sexual repression, doesn’t that mean you can take steps to combat it?”

    I have tried. But it’s subconscious and you don’t always have access to it and can’t just decide to change something. For instance, the breast fetish is a social construct that is embedded in the unconscious. That doesn’t mean a guy could just decide he’s not going to have the fetish anymore.

    Pretty much the entire world is a social construct — meaning we give reality symbolic meaning. I doubt that genitals are either naturally beautiful or ugly. Symbolically may mean different things to different people, And so they see them in those ways.

  34. Cill,
    I’m English and so have no vote. Like many around here I’m very ambivalent. Both the pros and cons are enormous.
    Meanwhile the pollies are busy bribing em to stay. That I disagree with.

  37. Spawny,

    I’m ambivalent too. I have rung my three grandmothers in the interim. My Saxon grandmother said “They’re crazy for even thinking about independence!” My Norman grandmother said “I think they might vote Yes”. My Scottish great-grandmother said “When are you going to visit me? That’s the more pertinent question.”

  39. Agreed! Her comment was typical of her resilient old heart. She descends from a long line of mercenaries, known as “swords for hire”.

    The interesting thing about the SAXON GrandMum’s comment is that she’s actually half Scot, but in terms of “social construct” she’s as English as they come (and I think her comment reflects this). Which brings me to…

    @BroadBlogs,
    “the breast fetish is a social construct that is embedded in the unconscious”. I haven’t come across this theory before. Does it come from gender studies?

    Do you mean “fetish” specifically, or the breast’s sex appeal in general?

  40. @Cill

    That’s so awesome. I love hearing about family histories, even if they’re not from my own. I think a lot gets forgotten because few people actively listen to their elders.

    BroadBlogs is a woman’s studies teacher, so that could be why you didn’t hear this theory before. She’ll be able to go into more depth about it, but she’s referring to the theory that Western culture puts more sexual emphasis on female breasts than is ever seen in “primitive” societies.

  41. My Norman ancestry is the easiest to trace because they were landowners. My Norman ancestor fought in the Battle of Hastings 1066. A later Norman ancestor married a grand daughter of Henry I, the third Norman king of England. So through her, I’m related all the way back to William the Conqueror and earlier.

    Here I’m about to say something really very, VERY funny. I’ve seen a family tree prepared by scribes for my earliest royal Norman ancestor in Normandy. I can tell you, seriously, that my family tree traces all the way back to Adam and Eve, and before that, God himself!

    I think I can be excused for giving a Muahahahha! at this point.

  42. Lol, I approve of your laughter, Cill. Although…truth be told…if the Christian creation myth were fact, then *everyone* would be able to do this. 😉

  43. Absolutely, but I think those swollen-headed old kings really did believe they were more directly related to God than their mere subjects could possibly have been!

  44. *sigh* Wasn’t that Calvinism, or at least related to it? The idea that if you’re doing well financially then you’re obviously more loved by God than your poor neighbor?

    The crap people come up with to justify their actions and stupidity…

  45. My Norman ancestors were staunch Roman Catholic, and persecuted during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I (interestingly, my Scottish ancestors were persecuted to ruination at the same time and for completely different reasons).

    However, I’m not religious and pretty much out of my depth when it comes to religion. I was meaning more along the lines of a king ruling by divine right, or something like that.

    I remember a remarkable great aunt on the Norman side, a patrician person of integrity, learned and sophisticated and wise and of great beauty even into old age. Like my mother and her sisters, she was a raven-haired Norman stunner. She once remarked that “blue blood” (as in royal or aristocratic) was not just a figure of speech. She swore she saw her mother’s blood and it was “blueish”. She said it resulted from consuming food and drink from silverware.

  46. When it comes to “woman’s studies”, my great aunt Adelaide would agree with the wise women of China: when confronted with “you ain’t got the white women’s feminism so you ain’t free” they would say “Good night unto you, and whilst you sleep may we very much remain wide awake.”

  47. “the theory that Western culture puts more sexual emphasis on female breasts than is ever seen in ‘primitive’ societies.” Tarnished, I appreciate that this is not your theory, but one that you are quoting. I should not expect an answer from you here, but I have to say, two things puzzle me about it.

    1. The suggestion that breast-appeal is a “western” thing. “Western” men lag far behind Japanese men in the breasts stakes. I have seen Japanese women, their eyelids closed and fluttering, while other adults suck on their breasts. They can get orgasms out of it. Men and other women can pinch, poke, kneed, pull, and squeeze breasts (lactating or dry) for hours at a time – far past the point where most “western” men would surely find something else to do. Being me, I just HAD to blurt out a question – any question! “How long do you like to breastfeed?” I blurted. She said “as long as they want, I will enjoy.” I asked a man who was really into it, how long has this been happening in Japan? He said, “Long long time.”
    As for China, the level of sexual interest in breasts is about equal to that of the “West”.

    2. The suggestion that breast-appeal is much more a modern than a primitive thing: The strongest cultural breast-thing I’ve ever seen was in tribal Papua New Guinea, on the part of the WOMEN! And in parts of Indonesia too. A visitor to the tribes simply can’t miss seeing it if he’s with them for more than a day or two. They would go out of their way to find something to stimulate their nipples. Even a sucking pig would do! The men as well paid more than a Caucasian level of attention to the breasts, from what I could see. Someone or something was always at the woman’s breast. The coastal people look and behave differently to the people of the highlands, but they have the breast thing in common.

    People in Asia have snorted at me for asking if these behaviours came with exposure to western culture.

    Perhaps feminists would say the PNG thing is not breast-appeal as they see it? It looked for all the world like sexual breast-appeal to me.

  48. Hey Cill.

    Yeah, I don’t believe this theory either. I mean, there are figurines/statues/mosaics/paintings thousands of years old that clearly highlight the breasts of the female body. I would actually find it weirder for there to be no breast “fetish”…After all, the female body has been revered for it’s ability to produce milk for the young, and large breasts hearken to when women are either about to menstruate (indicating potential fertility) or when they are pregnant (proven fertility). This occurs even in women with A cups.

    I believe when you say that you’ve seen women orgasm from mere breast stimulus. I can too, although it’s not the same type of orgasmic feeling as from my clit or g-spot. For one thing, there’s no refractory period to worry about… 😉

  49. I’m not sure what you mean by “refractory period”. I can see the literal meaning, but is there another?

    When I first saw the Japanese women enjoying breastfeeding, I was astonished to see them reach orgasm. I thought they were climaxing from the giving of milk! Of course, lactation need not always make breasts become non-erogenous or insensitive to stimulation. I realize that now.

    This is something I should have made clearer: they could reach orgasm while lactating. I understand it happens in the West, too, but rarely, I’m guessing, and not so wide spread.

  50. The refractory period…you know. When your body is hyper-sensitive after an orgasm and you either can’t cum anymore or have difficulty doing so? I definitely know men have them too!

    Eh, given the knowledge you had at your disposal, making the assumption that they were orgasming from breastfeeding was not an “out there” thought process.

  51. I know exactly what you mean, I just hadn’t heard it referred to as “refractory period”. 😉

    I wonder if there is a prudishness behind the two “suggestions” i.e. breast-appeal = oppression.
    Are they then just another feminist explanation designed to reflect badly on the patriarchy? If so, “the theory that Western culture puts more sexual emphasis on female breasts than is ever seen in ‘primitive’ societies” is more likely to be based on ideology than fact.

  52. And Oh yeah, that refractory period is of mighty brief duration when the woman is of a nature to drive me wild! The nature of a woman drives me wilder than her body can! 😈
    Actually, it’s more like the two combine into one overwhelming force that swamps the senses, which themselves become a prolonged extra-or-non-genital orgasm. Every part of the body turns into a red-hot erogenous zone. Hell, it makes my scalp tingle just thinking about the last time that happened. Aarrrg! I need to go overseas again, and fraternize… before I explode! 👿
    I want it! NOW!
    LOL
    🙂

  53. @BroadBlogs,
    “the breast fetish is a social construct that is embedded in the unconscious…
    Pretty much the entire world is a social construct — meaning we give reality symbolic meaning.”

    Are you referring to a particular “fetish” relating to breasts, or the breast’s sex appeal in general?
    Does the “social construct” transcend the nature of ourselves?
    “Social construct” = “the patriarchy”?
    You point “symbolic” to the breast fetish: In what way do we make it symbolic?
    From what does the symbolism derive?

    I hope my comments have not put you off! For me, puzzles are like appetites. I like to have them, but can’t wait to get rid of them! That’s why I jumped in before now.

    I will treat your answer with respect.

  54. I thought I was into something unfamiliar, only to discover, once again, the world out there is way, way ahead. I google on “western fetish for breast” and get links to references to oceans more references.

    I think I have witnessed the strange but a bit of searching and I discover my “strange” is not very.

    whew.

    That’s enough for me. Please ignore my requests for info.
    An aspect I haven’t delved into is the “symbolic”, but I’m guessing it’s something to do with Christianity. Enough.
    zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

  55. As a penis lover, I concur. I think the penis is one of the most amazing and beautiful things in the world!!?

  56. This is stupid its female genitals we should be getting people to recognise the beauty of. People are always talking about penises that’s omni present but we’re terrified to mention anything about vaginas. We even pretend they don’t exist.

    This sounds like a woman who want’s to manipulate men, who has a problem with her vagina and want’s to distract to penises.

  57. While I welcome your opinion as much as anyone else’s, I have to ask when you hear people talking about penises *in a good way*. I’ll agree that our society acknowledges them more than vulvas, but the question is “do they do so in a respectful manner that makes the penis out to be just as awesome as female genitals?” In my experience, the answer is no.

    Most people already recognize that female genitals are beautiful and sexy…even straight women. That’s why we have everything from the Wall of Vagina to porn magazines. Men *know* they find pussy nice to look at. How many hetero women tell their boyfriends/husbands that their penis is wonderful to behold? Not many.

    I don’t know how talking about the beauty of penises and testicles is “manipulative”. I love my lover’s body for all it is, and I find other naked males attractive too. My very sexuality is manipulative? Lol.

    Oh, and before you think I have a “problem” with my vagina (I wish I didn’t have it, but that’s my gender dysphoria not because I think it’s ugly…it’s actually quite lovely) or female genitals in general, you should probably read these posts:

    https://tarnishedsophia.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/happy-international-clitoris-week/

    https://tarnishedsophia.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/great-reasons-to-masturbate/

    https://tarnishedsophia.wordpress.com/2014/08/04/men-women-orgasms-nobody-is-satisfied/

  59. Good morning, Michael.
    Thanks for stopping by.

    If you’re asking what I think of circumcision, that’s easy. It’s male genital mutilation, on par with FGM. I’d have no problem with it if it was *adult* men electing to alter their penises, just as I don’t care if *adult* women get clitoral piercings or labiaplasty surgeries. These are not things I would ever do, but then again I don’t even have pierced ears. I have decided to never have children, but my hypothetical sons would’ve been given the same bodily autonomy as my daughters.

    To cause such gross and unnecessary pain to an infant should outrage us just as much as the cruelties towards female genitals that take place in other countries. I truly detest double standards of any kind. That being said, I know men (including my sex partner) who are circumcised and have no bad feelings about it. I’ve previously asked my FwB what he thinks of the fact that he is circumcised, and he thinks of it positively. Says he likes the look of it better, appreciated that he didn’t have to worry about smega buildup as a child, thinks that women prefer a “clean” look, and is glad his parents got it done when he was an infant. He also said that if he’d ever had children, he’d absolutely want his sons to be circumcised like him.

    So obviously there are many differing thoughts on this. What are yours?

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