A Sensitive Question on Phallophilia

[Madaglan]

This is a serious thread, and I’m hoping someone can perhaps offer me insights. It has to do with a situation that I find very disturbing and am not sure if it is a local or a more universal problem.

There is a high school I know of where it is quite common to find phalla drawn or scribbled all over the place: in notebooks, in textbooks, on clothing, on the blackboard (to unsuspecting teachers coming in) and on the body. It is not an isolated incident with one or a few students, but is an epidemic; dozens of students from all four grade levels and of equally varying intelligence levels indulge in what I find to be bizarre behavior.

When I went to high school, sure there were kids who had sex, talked about sex, even made phallus jokes. But I don’t recall there being a craze of drawing this part of the human anatomy to such a degree that it no longer becomes offensive or bad taste–but instead humorous–to students seeing it. Even recently, I’ve seen these figures drawn next to signatures in the yearbook. If someone had drawn this is my yearbook when I was a high school student, I would have thought the person mucked up in the head, and would have scribbled it out (after slapping the person over the head). But the high school students at this high school, at least the greater number of them, as I can tell from the vast frequency of these illustrations, masquerade these illustrations without thinking twice.

Now, I’m not condemning these students, but I’m wondering: what the heck is going on here? I don’t have a degree in human psychology, much less teen psychology, and I’m new to the modern education system; so I’m completely bewildered.

What do you think?

 

[Mirdath]

I’m wondering: what the heck is going on here?

Crude phallic graffiti (and sculpture, and wanking jokes, and… you get the idea) are the height of comedy to a certain mindset commonly found in middle and high schools. That’s all. Really.

 

[Harpazo]

Crude phallic graffiti (and sculpture, and wanking jokes, and… you get the idea) are the height of comedy to a certain mindset commonly found in middle and high schools. That’s all. Really.

That’s a shame. It’s not too common where I go to school, but it is no longer offensive. Nor is immodesty considered offensive, but that’s for another thread.

Alaha minokhoun,
Andrew

 

[OSUbride0708]

People used to do that all the time when I was in high school (5-8 yrs ago). Or should I say GUYS used to do that. They thought it was hilarious for some reason.

 

[Just_wondering]

I had a male coworker in his mid-thirties who thought it was the height of hilarity to draw phallic graffiti on his rented apartment walls, then invite the office over for coffee. We got into a discussion of how most women aren’t nearly as fascinated by the male sexual equipment as men themselves are. I have no idea what causes this obsession. You certainly don’t see a lot of women doodling female parts all over their notebooks. There are a few strange men out there.

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

I had a male coworker in his mid-thirties who thought it was the height of hilarity to draw phallic graffiti on his rented apartment walls, then invite the office over for coffee. We got into a discussion of how most women aren’t nearly as fascinated by the male sexual equipment as men themselves are. I have no idea what causes this obsession. You certainly don’t see a lot of women doodling female parts all over their notebooks. There are a few strange men out there.

I hate to post in this topic…but this behavior by an adult seems borderline psychotic. If a male coworker drew a picture of private parts on the wall, invited female co-workers to see…isn’t that a form of sexual harassment? I, for one, don’t wouldn’t want to see that “art”.

 

[Sina]

Interesting… I had no idea. It might come from the movie “Superbad” where one of the main characters is shown as a child drawing phallic symbols everywhere in his notebook and he gets discovered. It’s supposed to be a huge joke ( I found the movie way over the top, especially as a female watching it )



Hopefully the craze will die down…

 

[DL82]

I hate to post in this topic…but this behavior by an adult seems borderline psychotic. If a male coworker drew a picture of private parts on the wall, invited female co-workers to see…isn’t that a form of sexual harassment? I, for one, don’t wouldn’t want to see that “art”.

I know people with that level of immaturity too. They just never grow out of being the class clown.

It’s one of the simplest things to draw. I guess the kind of thing you’re talking about is a simple line drawing, two circles with hairs, and a U shape between them. I remember this was quite common toilet-wall graffiti when I was at school (8-14 years ago), and even when I was at university.

There are bronze-age and stone-age carvings and hill chalkings that consist entirely of male genitalia, so I guess it’s true that there is nothing new under the sun.

 

[Feanaro_s_Wife]

We got into a discussion of how most women aren’t nearly as fascinated by the male sexual equipment as men themselves are. I have no idea what causes this obsession. You certainly don’t see a lot of women doodling female parts all over their notebooks.

**
Not sure if you were trying to be funny but this made me laugh. It’s so true!!! I could understand guys drawing boobies or something …but penises??? They already have one they can see anytime they want (which is too often to be sane, lol). And guys are usually soooooooooo concerned with appearing “gay” that you would think this would be absolutely forbidden in the macho world. What can I say? Guys make even less sense than we women!**

 

[TessaRose]

I have no clue why there is this craze either, but it’s pretty annoying when your stuff gets marked with it! When I was a junior in high school there was a boy who signed my yearbook and left a HUGE phallic drawing next to his name. I was so angry, but I didn’t do anything about it at the time. Schools should have rules or something in place where the artist gets to buy a new yearbook to replace the one he ruined.

 

[Sina]

I work with a guy from Afghanistan ( moved here when he was 16 and he is about 28 now ). Sometimes he asks me what stuff means as English is like his 5th language.

A few weeks ago he sent an email around to me and other coworkers about a tower in Saudi Arabia they had built and he commenting on how ridiculous it was. I wrote back " yeah and very phallic too". I guess he didn’t know what phallic meant, so he looked it up on Microsoft’s dictionary. He was even more confused I am sure cos we all got an e-mail back saying

What does this mean? Phallic? “in psychoanalytic theory, relating to a stage of psychosexual development during which a young child’s sexual feelings are concentrated on the genitals”

Poor guy!!! I would be confused by that definition too but as you can imagine, I was laughing my head off that he had looked up Phallic in the dictionary at work.

 

[montanaman]

If you go to Pompeii you’ll see phalluses carved into the stone roads pointing the way to the nearest brothel.

The more things change…

 

[ArdenB]

Penises are just plain ugly IMO, so I don’t get the appeal of any phallic sympbols.

 

[drafdog]

Teenagers have dirty minds and are imitative. It usually goes away when they mature. But not always.
Yes, the human male sex organ (penis, phallus) is a common theme in art from all cultures and is found repetitively in Christian art and symbolism. Don’t lose any sleep over this.

Matthew