Channel Four’s bold new documentary confronts anxieties about the male member. We go behind the scenes – and meet Ajamu, the artist and ‘sex activist’ who gets men to reveal all
A former
police officer is confessing to being unable to drive without his penis becoming aroused. “Is it the rumble of the road on your balls?” he wonders aloud, while another young man in the group says: “I actually think my dick is in control [of me].” A third guy, in his 30s, describes his first attempt at masturbation: “I kind of hit it from side to side and it felt nice after a while.”
If these sound like the sort of stories you don’t often hear on mainstream TV, then that’s the point. Channel 4’s one-off show Me and My Penis aims to break the taboo around the male sex organ and start a frank conversation about masculinity. In among the penis chat, we hear from a man in his 40s called Jason who breaks down sobbing while confronting his infertility. There’s a moving account from a trans man who details the fear he had of female puberty, knowing his body would soon grow breasts he didn’t want. And one former soldier opens up about losing his legs and sustaining a severe genital injury doing
bomb disposal work in
Afghanistan.