Phallacy
2020 • 338 pages
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Average rating4
15
Ratings1
Average rating4
A wry look at what the astonishing world of animal penises can tell us about how we use our own. The fallacy sold to many of us is that the penis signals dominance and power. But this wry and penetrating book reveals that in fact nature did not shape the penis--or the human attached to it--to have the upper...hand. Phallacy looks closely at some of nature's more remarkable examples of penises and the many lessons to learn from them. In tracing how we ended up positioning our nondescript penis as a pulsing, awe-inspiring shaft of all masculinity and human dominance, Phallacy also shows what can we do to put that penis back where it belongs. Emphasizing our human capacities for impulse control, Phallacy ultimately challenges the toxic message that the penis makes the man and the man can't control himself. With instructive illustrations of unusual genitalia and tales of animal mating rituals that will make you particularly happy you are not a bedbug, Phallacy shows where humans fit on the continuum from fun to fatal phalli and why the human penis is an implement for intimacy, not intimidation.
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This is, as you might guess, a book about penises. The bulk of it is taken up with an examination of the various forms that the penis takes throughout the animal kingdom, taking a broad definition of the term so that we're able to include the likes of spiders and fleas as well as the more obviously homologous structures of ducks and turtles. (The book, in fact, often uses the term “intromittum” to describe something that functions like a penis, but isn't technically the same thing, because it's on the end of the animal's arms or it's only found in females, or whatever).
This part is informative and written in an entertaining style with an often wry sense of humour. The latter often come across in the plentiful footnotes, which serve as additional information or commentary on the main text. There's plenty about the oldest known penis, structures that also serve other purposes, penises with attachments for additional stimulation, unusual (to us) methods of internal fertilisation and, yes, because we know you were wondering, which ones are the biggest. There is plenty here that I didn't know, mostly about invertebrates, although I hadn't come across, for example, the information it provides about the dibbler's member.
The first and last chapters are a little different, veering away from the zoological (ahem) thrust of the rest to discuss the attitude of humans towards the organ and its use. The first is about some of the weaker scientific research on penises and human sexuality and comes across as a bit ranty - it's not wrong, but the writing style of the book doesn't suit it so much as it does the later chapters. The final chapter is the “life lessons” part, discussing human attitudes to the penis down the ages, and launching an attack on toxic masculinity.
So, if you're reading this for the laughs, or just for the biology, it might not be what you're looking for. And it does seem out-of-place to criticise people for being overly interested in the penis in a book that's specifically about the organ. (Although, as I commented myself in a blog post about dolphin vaginas a few years back, she's absolutely right that female genitalia don't get the attention they deserve from comparative anatomists, and there's clearly a reason for that).
An entertaining and informative book, only slightly weakened by falling a little between the two camps of zoology and sociology.
