Profs & Pints Online presents: “Exposing Leading Men’s Parts,” a look at the changing role of male genitalia in Hollywood movies, with Peter Lehman, professor emeritus of film and media studies at Arizona State University and author of Running Scared: Masculinity and The Representation of the Male Body, Expanded Edition.

[ This talk will remain available in recorded form at the link given here for tickets and access.]

If you think you’re seeing more penises in the movies these days, you’re probably right—but also wrong. Find out why in this fascinating talk by film scholar Peter Lehman, who has been studying patterns of male nudity in movies since 1993. He’ll shed light on how depictions of the penis in film reflect not just laws, regulations, and social norms, but also the influence of gender politics and lingering male insecurities.

We’ll start by looking at how the abandonment of the old Motion Picture Code in 1968 cleared the way for Hollywood to begin depicting full frontal male nudity, and then trace how depictions of what guys have down there have changed over time.

During the 2011 World Premiere of Shame at the Venice Film Festival, a critic gushed on social media that Michael Fassbender’s very large penis had replaced Scottish actor Ewan McGregor’s in the phallic pantheon. Dubious as it may be for the media to dwell on Fassbender’s and McGregor’s endowments, they at least were the real thing.

There are no such stars today, even though we’re in the midst of a full-frontal male nudity blitz in film and television. What we’re looking at are special and visual effects. Those penises are almost always prosthetics. Why is this happening now and what does it mean? To answer such questions, Professor Lehman will analyze images from recent popular films and television shows exploring the cultural messages they give us.

He’ll discuss how the penis has long been treated as privileged. Initially it was barred from explicit language and representation, protecting its mystique. As censorship crumbled, showing and talking explicitly about penises was carefully regulated to guarantee it a special meaning. The prosthetic penises so common on the screen now are the latest—and perhaps ultimate—effort to regulate how penises are shown and what they mean.

Profs & Pints Online: Exposing Leading Men’s Parts