“I am a grown man,” starts the letter to the sex advice columnist in the December 06 issue of GQ Magazine, “I shouldn’t be getting erections in public anymore”. The grown man in question writes hoping for possible reasons as to why he experiences erections on airplanes. While reading the question, I assumed the response would include something about the effects of air pressure or maybe something about sitting for a long time; instead, the columnist takes the opportunity to make fun of him. She accuses him of bragging about his “brawn”. The closest she comes to providing an answer is offering: “You are hot for planes.” She consults Professor Eli Coleman who states that it is “normal for adult men to get random daytime erections” but goes on to discredit the professor and the grown man, “this I believe is a lie.” She jokingly suggests that he send her more information so that she may compile it “and have a really good laugh.”
I agree erections are funny but c’mon! -When did men lose the right to have erections for reasons other than sexual? Erections are nothing more than a swelled appendage caused by the pressure of blood flow. Erections are not solely an act of desire. They are not always attemptive insurgents hoping to overthrow the governing body to partake in acts of sexual terrorism. An erection is just (on average) 7inches of response to stimuli. Nothing in the penis handbook stipulates that stimuli must be sexual. Wind, pant material, tiredness, a good feeling are all plausible possibilities for getting a hard-on.
As children, guys have erections all the time for no reason and with arguably little attention. It is only as they get older through direct and indirect methods that they begin to understand that erections are something private and should be kept to themselves.
Getting caught in public with a stiff bulge in your pants is a rite of passage for most young men. Almost every Jr. High has their own legend about a guy having to walk up to the front of class with a book in front of their tented pants. One Edmonton-based teacher, (who wishes to remain anonymous as not to become the go-to teacher source for all erection questions) notices that as boys get older, and become more conscious of their bodies they switch from comfortable and roomy sweatpants to more constrictive pants like jeans. “We know why they switch” she says, “they become aware of the possible public embarrassment that would be caused from others seeing their erections.”
In his ongoing photographic work called The Erection Series (January 06-ongoing), Toronto based photographer Dimitre Andonov “addresses the awkwardness and shame felt by men in the instance of a public erection.” In the photos he poses as various teenage boys sportin woods in the most banal, common and therefore inappropriate of situations. Birthday is of a young man and his grandmother. His hopefully inconspicuous erection and her noisemaker are the only thing between them.
Taken with a typical, easy to use, point and shoot camera from the perspective predominantly of a family member, Andonov achieves the effect he was after: the photos come across as snapshots. Moments of mortification caught on film forever.
The most compelling portrait from The Erection Series is also the most close up. Congratulations is of a young man cut off, his face stiff in a perceived attempt to mask his vulnerability, his erection pointing in the opposite direction of a “congratulations” sign that is in partial view, his body slacks in resignation. Does he even realize he has an erection?
In Andonov’s work there is a possibility for erections to transcend the common view as metaphors for dominance. His work, unlike American photographer Anthony Goicolea, who uses himself as a subject to explore the adolescent male experience. is void of sexuality. Although influenced by Goicolea, Andonov takes a different more honest route, after all he says, “What is more honest than an erection?”
Goicolea produces slick almost commercial photographs that are thick with sexual suspense. The photos are often of young men in vulnerable situations in near nakedness with evolving musculature who’s future is unknown and compelling. In comparison, the young men in Andonov’s work are forgettable. They are not even gawky or kitsch enough to be objectified by the fringe. They are plain. Because there is no obvious sexual stimuli to cause the erection and the boys themselves are too boring to be sexualized the erections are rendered harmless. He has eliminated sexuality from the erection.
Now because they are neither threatening nor intimidating, the erections serve as a starting point in a possible paradigm shift regarding erections.
Over the past few decades everything from cranes, office towers and peppermills have become phallic symbols that point to the patriarchal leadership of the western world. It can be argued that many of the social ills we currently suffer through, namely war, are products of a man-centric world. To create a more balanced world order we could start by re-imagining the erection.
For Andonov “pants are symbols for culture and society, the penis is a symbol for nature” so erections in pants are symbolic for “ nature peeking through.” By having to control and suppress their nature men are in effect, asked to become insensitive to their own bodies and so to the outside world. As Andonov puts it, “men are taught to hide their true lives.”
Instead of maintaining the view that erections are meat thermometers letting men know when they are hot enough for a sexual encounter, erections should be seen as swords of sensitivity informing men when life in general is arousing them.
To me The Erection Series is a call for revolution- at least a suggestion for one. Andonov’s work blows the lid off the ridiculous practice of men suppressing their “nature” behind the confines, distractions and adornments of “society”. By exploring men’s shame and attempt to conceal their nature, Andonov is exploring the role of the masculine psyche in today’s society.
Skyscrapers, war, peppermills, are all attempts for men to express their nature that they are suppressing on a regular basis. Maybe if, as a society, we are able to reduce the stigma attached to erections, and become more comfortable with random public erections, we could reduce the desire in men to express/expend their nature on a grand scale.
Flex your dink not your might!
Pitch a tent, not another skyscraper!
Taking the photos, says Andonov, has allowed him to become more sympathetic towards men, made it easier to befriend men and forgive them for their “supposed cold ways.” He hopes for the same response from others.
Right now the world’s tallest building is being erected, continued penetration of the earth for non-renewable resources continues and wars are rage in almost every corner of the planet. An erection revolution is worth a try.
Viva la erection!
Long Live the Sword of Sensitivity!
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