A Dark Mysterious Object

Photo taken from marieclaire.com
By: Chris Valletta

In Susan Bordo's "The Male Body, Farra, Straus, and Giroux", she gives her take on the impact of the male sex organ in the chapter: In hiding and on display. Starting with her childhood, Bordo describes being jealous of her friend who had the opportunity to see a penis, yet at the same time she was terrified to have this experience herself. As her friends recalled seeing it, one of them described it as "It shoots straight up from a bunch of hair"(pg. 16)! Bordo recalls even shuddering in the fear of seeing something as her friends described, because it seemed too mysterious and unreal from the descriptions. As a boy becomes a man, he goes through an education of the female body. However, Bordo and her female friends seemed to be void of this education of their own since they were too preoccupied with the boys achieving their own education.

I found this fact by Bordo to be interesting because even in satisfying their own pleasure and desire, the females were still making sure the males knew what they were doing, even over their own curiosity. Bordo also introduces the topic of her father, since that was the only male she had any close interaction with. This vision of her dad only made her feel more uncomfortable because she could not imagine her dad having such an unnatural part of his body. "But this vague repellent mystery of my father's body- what horrible thing was lurking down there, under his baggy boxer shorts" (pg. 16)? In addition, Bordo notes how there are differences in sex education between males and females. For males, they watched videos on graphic sexually transmitted diseases, whereas females only viewed the female reproductive tract.

This difference in education has an impact on the rest of their lives related to sex. For instance, the males learn about the dangers of sex when it is abused, whereas the females are simply educated on the "good nature" of having periods. What is missing from this picture? Well, the penis is a seemingly non-factor, even though it is essential to the process of sexual intercourse. The point Bardo is trying to make here is that the penis is never a factor discussed and is always shrouded in mystery. However in recent time, homo-erotic photography and more male frontal nudity has been less censored in the media and society. For example, we have seen this in designer models, such as the males featured in Calvin Klein and Armani Exchange. Even not related to sex, men were now encouraged to buy clothes, jewelery, and to enhance their hair styles.

Bordo also describes men's infatuation with the size of their penis, whether or not they can perform, and their fear of losing their penis. These feelings have been fostered through the media and society's attempt in describing them. Another interesting point that Bordo illustrates is that as humans, we identify males by the sight of a person, yet we tend not to identify females from their sex organs. In most instances, a penis automatically signifies the male, even if there are other female characteristics depicted, whereas with women this rarely occurs with the identification of the vagina. In her conclusion, Bordo essentially depicts that through the apparent differences in sexuality between males and females, we all have similar experiences, no matter what their sex is. This is the case even though the male sex organ is clearly not seen in the same light as the female sex organ.