The argument that what one does in one’s private life is should not be subject to public scrutiny went out the window when Weiner made his privates public by inadvertently posting them into his Twitter stream rather than as a direct message to 21-year-old Washington state woman.
It begs the question, “Why do men put their penises online?” Respond to any ad on Craigslist and, as many can attest, one stands a one in five chance of receiving a poorly-lit jpeg of some dude’s cock. It’s a wonder that no one has started an amateur porn site called “Craig’s Dicks” comprised exclusively of prick pics culled from the personal ads juggernaut. Chatroulette, the video chat service that randomly pairs participants in two-way tet-a-tets is notorious as veritable museum of male masturbation.The site rapidly cycles through chat pairings with either user given the option to hit “next” and move on to another chat – usually within seconds. After cycling through eight live images of users in front of their web cams – Bingo! – a crotch shot at the ready.
In the pantheon of paraphilias, exhibitionism is perhaps the most benign though clinicians describe it as “coercive” since it usually involves forcibly imposing one’s genitalia into another line of sight without their consent. The notion of an old-school trench coat-clad flasher is damn near quaint compared to the lone gunman taking aim at a webcam.
Albeit, confronting an exhibitionist in the flesh is surely a harrowing experience, however, it does permit one the ability to express one’s revulsion, reciprocate with bodily harm or perhaps even flash back (any of which, may or may not be the offenders goal). The online penis parader, however, uses social media to broadcast their exhibitionism from the comfort of their own homes. It combines the privacy end-users of porn expect from direct delivery of content to their laptops (no more embarrassing visits to the “adult” section of the video store – hell, for that matter, no more video stores!) with the inversely proportionate ability to broadcast oneself freely, cheaply and nakedly to millions with relative anonymity and without retribution.
This is perhaps one reason that everyone from media pundits to House minority leader Nancy Pelosi came down so, um, hard on Anthony’s weiner. It was if he received the aggregate slap back awaiting all the faceless exhibitionists lurking on the Internet. Consider his monkey spanked. To gauge the size of your "e-penis" click this humorous if NSFW link, which uses your Twitter handle to measure your size online.
