Unclothed entirety
To his credit
In a review of the movie “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” in yesterday’s Times I came across this paragraph:
“Speaking of which, the filmmakers forgo the cheap and easy thrill of female nudity, preferring the display of male flesh for comic effect. Ms. Bell, Ms. Kunis and Maria Thayer (as a voracious honeymooner in an amusing subplot) keep their tops and bottoms covered even when vigorously feigning naked passion. Mr. Segel, however, appears, near the beginning of the film and again toward the end, in his unclothed entirety, a spectacle that I must report did not entirely impress a quite vocal woman a few rows behind me at the sneak preview. Mr. Segel’s willingness to face the kind of criticism she voiced is surely to his credit.”
A while ago a female friend of mine wrote to me that women tend to speak less about the size of male genitalia than men tend to speak about the seize of women’s breasts etcetera.
I might have completely misunderstood the Times’ reviewer, but I do think that A.O. Scott is heaping praise on Mr. Segel for consciously showing an unimpressive penis to a huge audience.
We might enter a new era, not only in the world of acting but also in the world of dating, a world in which we are going to whisper to each other: “Show me your unimpressive body parts and I will tell you who you are.”
Hannover
Hoi ,okay, habe gerade erst diese Seite entdeckt und den blog. Und mich selbt auf dem Foto in Hannover. unter all den nicht -Kennern von Grünbergs Werk. ..Ja ja, Hannover ist nicht spannend, Arnon, ich wäre auch lieber wieder in Berlin.... Aber dennoch: Danke für die Lesung, und ich würde mich freuen, Sie /Dich mal wieder in Hannover zu sehen. Bis dahin habe ich vielleicht auch das neue Buch auf niederländisch gelesen.
Agnes
Umimpressiv body parts
The subject of ‘unimpressive body parts’ does not seem to incite much comment, but let me give mine.Although women in general like to make fun of the size of the male organ, the main reason for this seems to be that the subject embarrases men. Concerning obsession with the size of the male organ men seem to be in this case the weakest sex. The obsession of women is more concerned with the phenomenon of erection, which indeed has something magic (although the coming of viagra has a bit spoiled this magic) for both sexes, but even more so for women.
Visiting a dating site, what struck me is that a lot of women like to characterize themselves as being ‘spontaneous’, while men rarily uses this adjective to describe themselves. I happen to see in this a proof for the fascination of women with the phenomenon erection, which could also be described as ‘spontaneous’ or ‘a will of it own’. Under the proposition that women identify with the fallus as an object of desire and as such, like to present themselves as such at certain occasions.
As to men, they are less bothered about being spontaneous (an often heard complain of women about their husbands in marriages in which the passion is extinguished: ‘you are so boring, you’re never spontaneous!’) but more concerned with exactedness. Hence their complain that women are never exactly right, that is, not right at all. Could this obsession with numbers be linked to their obsession with the size of their penis? Having a small penis is a worry that is quite common, but the possibility that it can be measured and that there are in principle men with penisses which are just a little bit smaller can be a great comfort.
To conclude: the idea that showing your ‘unimpressive body part’ exposes who you are seems to be a male fantasy, it is a female fantasy if this unimpressive part becomes something impressive. Hence that being is for women light as a flash, for men heavy as a stone.
Johan
You have a great imagination. It’s true that a lot of women characterize themselves as being spontaneous, because it seems to be a virtue in itself, being the opposite of boring or reserved. Spontaneous girls don’t think too much, they say what they feel, that seems to be the thought.To see in this a proof for the fascination of women with the phenomenon erection, really is one bridge too far. If it means anything, I would say society values extrovert personalities over introvert personalities, or women think having an extrovert personality gets them a date.
Sex
I always suffered erection problems: having an erection was a problem and then not having an erection seemed to be a problem too.I think men and woman are waiting for a remote control device to arouse each other spontaneously.
Johan
Are you suggesting that my fantasies are female fantasies?Margot
The basic female character trait is the drive to please the male, isn't it?David
You guys...Margot
Okee, I agree I was exagerating things a bit. But you cannot deny women like to get flowers. A grey day as usual and suddenly a bouquet. Suprise!And don’t you think a bouquet of flowers has a phallic connotation? Both are things that don’t last forever, you have to grasp the moment.
Arnon
Female fantasies, maybe. Would it not be enchanting?Johan
Enchanting, that is the word.Johan
It depends on the size of the bouquet.Mieke
I heard that in general the thickness of the penis is important for women.Anyhow, Alberto Morovia's novel He and Me is a must read. It is about a man who is conversating with his penis. The length of it is not an issue in this book.
David
With certain kinds of sex the thickness seems to be crucial. But then again I might have been misinformed.The book you mentioned is worth reading indeed.
