‘Power, penetration and strength. Weakness, misery and shame. Can a single organ embody all of these? Should it? You wouldn’t think a penis would matter so much, to look at it — a few ounces of flesh that, for better or worse, symbolise masculinity. … Still, buy the book. Get it for the photos, but read it for the funny, the shocking, and the vulnerable moments we might otherwise never see.’ Dr Brooke Magnanti, Evening Standard. 

Now there’s a quote which brings together the themes, the very soul, of our Penis Gallery, an event which aim to discuss that most contradictory of organs, a weapon and a weakness, a joy and a joke, a wand and a willy. Men have complex relationships with their penises, but do we talk about it? Do we fucking heck as like. This is one of those things that provokes feelings and thought that we tend to bury deep down. In order to counter that, The Book of Man thought it important to dedicate one of our events at The Festival of New Masculinity to the classic anxiety and celebrate members of all shapes and sizes, and chatting about some of the issues around thingys.

The quote refers to Laura Dodsworth’s book ‘Manhood: The Bare Reality’, which is a collection of 100 photos and interviews with men which explores themes of masculinity, gender and sexuality – it is a brilliantly honest subversion of the ‘strong and silent’ idea of men, as men share stories and truly embrace vulnerabilities. And we are delighted that Laura will be joining us at our Penis Gallery, to show some images and share some stories from the book.

Laura has been busting taboos one body part at a time. Over the last five years, she has photographed & interviewed 300 women and men about their breasts, penises and vulvas. By turning her lens on physical taboos, she catalyses a ground-breaking conversation into social taboos and offers a deeply personal perspective on our most private, painful and pleasurable stories.

We are thrilled that she is joining us.

Oh, and don’t forget – we need your penises for our exhibition!

Submissions are being accepted for nice, black and white images of your own, or your local penis, to be put on display on the night. Send your photos to penis@thebookofman.com– strictly no erect penises, this isn’t porn, this is about ‘at ease’ normalisation. Yes, it’s not the usual dick pic sent to girl on Tinder dynamic, so it makes life difficult – but to our minds this is braver, and not illegal, and everyone who does it is a hero.

The Penis Gallery is taking place on 26^thFebruary at The Book Club in east London, and you can buy tickets for it now.

Laura Dodsworth – Photographer and Storyteller – www.lauradodsworth.com 

For more on ‘Manhood: The Bare Reality’ as well as her new book, ‘Womanhood: The Bare Reality’ and her first book in the series ‘Bare Reality: 100 women, their breasts, their stories’, go here: www.barereality.net
@barereality