“It’s really cool,” Chris Pine confesses in a recent interview regarding the attention his penis is getting in The Outlaw King. We’re sure Ryan Reynolds felt similar about Deadpool 2, Adam DeVine in Game Over, Man and Ben Affleck about Gone, Girl.
We’re in an age that is obsessed with male nudity; especially the DICK. Perhaps because it’s the first time in history when women haven’t been made to feel like whores for having a sexual appetite.
Attitudes towards sex, on the whole, were becoming more relaxed thanks to the introduction of things like dick pics, and Kim Kardashian; who – lover her or hate her – made it extremely trendy to be naked. (We probably wouldn’t have had Milan Christopher’s Playgirl-style full-frontal in Paper without Kim’s first).
Instagram went on to breed millions of people who were not only less ashamed to be naked, but also thought it would make them rich overnight, while books like 50 Shades made every Karen think she was a kink connoisseur.
Blogs like ours brought thirsty insta-hoes and reality TV star’s leaked nudes to the forefront of mainstream media, which further perpetuated the idea, that a) not only is it OK for us to look at – but also want to look at – the naked male form, but b) that we shouldn’t be ashamed of our bodies or our sexualities.
Huge stories like Orlando Bloom and Justin Bieber being papped fully naked – within days of one another – reaffirmed that hanging out with your wang out was the current way to make headlines (much like how Britney and Paris would flash their flange every time they stepped out of a car, back in 2006).
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While the emergence of x-rated platforms like OnlyFans, and the rise of male nudity on television – particular on penis-friendly HBO network (Game of Thrones, Westworld) – have carried this momentum.
To a certain extent it is perhaps fair to say that men’s genitalia is currently more objectified in the media than women’s: Shia LeBeouf pissing in public makes front-page news, while magazines like Nuts and FHM go under.
Producers have picked up on the public’s piqued peen-interest, (if not by anything more than how viral frontal features go when reported on), and realised that in order to make a successful movie all you need is some A-list cock. Girl, I could’ve told you that as a closeted 14-year-old. Although to be fair, it probably wouldn’t have worked back then because women weren’t as open about taking a cultural trip to the cinema to see some famous phallus.
But it works. Kinky Karen isn’t paying £20 for some historical war bullshit. But historical war bullshit with four seconds of Chris Pine’s penis? Count her in!
Will sex and nudity continue to normalize until we’ve got giblets on our screens before the watershed and softcore porn in the evening? Or will we retreat into more conservative attitudes again?