In two sections of her book, Bordo also talks about "men's insecurities about penis size. Men, like women, have idealized standards of what they and various parts of their bodies should look like. When the reality does measure up to the idealized image, men experience the same type of insecurities that are found in women. Just as women often define their attractiveness with respect to the shape of their bodies and the size of their breasts, men also regard the size of their penis as evidence of their male prowess and appeal.
Bordo's thesis is that "the humongous penis, like the idealized female body, is a cultural fantasy. The penis is a physical item whereas a phallus has symbolic meaning.
The phallus is what is respected because not every penis is worthy of being called a phallus. Bordo suggests that it is the principle of the phallus that gives men special status. She uses many references to sophisticated philosophical concepts and some psychological concepts as well in discussing how a somewhat ordinary penis becomes a phallus. What she is describing in this manner is the way in which the genital organ of the male takes on enhanced meaning and significance and even authority in society.
It is the phallus that lends authority to men and not the penis by itself. In this general context, Bordo makes some references to the literary and artistic depictions of the phallus. Work by straight and gay writers and artists are included in this discussion to describe the way in which phallic power is understood and symbolized. Many ads display the naked male body without shame or plot excuse, and often exploit rather than resolve the sexual ambiguity that is generated How do male bodies in the ads speak to us nowadays?
In a variety of ways. Sometimes the message is challenging, aggressive. Many models stare coldly at the viewer, defying the observer to view them in any way other than how they have chosen to present themselves: as powerful, armored, emotionally impenetrable. Often, as in the Jackson Browne look-alike ad, the penis is prominent, but unlike the penis in that ad, its presence is martial rather than sensual. Overall, these ads depict what I would describe as "face-off masculinity," in which victory goes to the dominant contestant in a game of will against will.
Who can stare the other man down? Who will avert his eyes first? Whose gaze will be triumphant? Pollack's studies of boys suggest that a set of rules -- which he calls "The Boy Code" -- govern their behavior with each other. The first imperative of the code --"Be a sturdy oak" -- represents the emotional equivalent of "face-off masculinity": Never reveal weakness. Pretend to be confident even though you may be scared. Act like a rock even when you feel shaky.
Dare others to challenge your position. The face-off is not the only available posture for male bodies in ads today. Another possibility is what I call "the lean" --because these bodies are almost always reclining, leaning against, or propped up against something in the fashion typical of women's bodies.
James Dean was probably our first pop-culture "leaner"'; he made it stylish for teenagers to slouch. Dean, however, never posed as languidly or as openly seductive as some of the high-fashion leaners are today. A recent Calvin Klein "Escape" ad depicts a young, sensuous-looking man leaning against a wall, arm raised, dark underarm hair exposed.
His eyes seek out the imagined viewer, soberly but flirtatiously. Languid leaners have actually been around for a long time. I find it interesting, though, that Klein has chosen Mr. Take Me to advertise a perfume called "Escape. This ad, featuring a man offering himself up seductively, invitingly to the observer, promises "escape. To what? Men have complained, justly, about the burden of always having to be the sexual initiator, the pursuer, the one of whom sexual "performance" is expected.
Perhaps the escape is from these burdens, and toward the freedom to indulge in some of the more receptive pleasures traditionally reserved for women Some people describe these receptive pleasures as "passive" --which gives them a bad press with men, and is just plain inaccurate too. Inviting, receiving, responding --these are active behaviors too, and rather thrilling ones. It's a macho bias to view the only real activity as that which takes, invades, aggresses.
It's a bias, however, that's been with us for a long time, in both straight and gay cultures. In many Latin cultures, it's not a disgrace to sleep with other men, so long as one is activo or machista -- the penetrator rather than the penetratee. To be a pasivo , on the other hand, is to be socially stigmatized. It's that way in prison cultures too -- a good indication of the power hierarchies involved. These hierarchies date back to the ancient Greeks, who believed that passivity, receptivity, penetrability were marks of inferior feminine being.
The qualities were inherent in women; it was our nature to be passively controlled by our sexual needs. Unlike the female body, the naked male body is usually hidden from the public eye. Public sphere offers scarce representations of male nudity, especially representations of the male penis in an unengaged mode. Bordo argues that it is precisely because the real penis, which can be soft or hard, threatens to undermine the power attributed to the phallus that patriarchic culture prefers to keep it under wraps.
Bordo indicates a number of groups of men that are forced to play the "cultural shadow" of the phallus.
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