Interestingly enough, even before smartphone cameras and air drop, it still was not uncommon to see unsolicited dick pictures. Depicted penises could and can be found scratched into sandboxes and under school desks. As evidence, I submit some of the creative places I could a find a penis.

Alright, now since that is finished, I want to answer the impending question I have for this blog: Why do people draw dicks everywhere?

Here are some answers what I found, searching on reddit threads:

• “Because inappropriate genitalia is funny, and of the two dicks are the easiest to draw – and most instantly recognisable. People have been drawing dicks on stuff since there’s been dicks, stuff to draw with, and stuff to draw on. I mean, look at Pompeii, dicks everywhere.”
• “It’s just really easy to draw toilet humor. I don’t believe there is anything deep about it. The first thing I drew when I got my draw tablet was this: Mister Von Dick while I was in a skype call.”
• “My best guess: I draw a dick every once in a while in class because I have quite literally nothing better to do. It’s just something people do when they’re bored. Remember when everyone drew those pointed S’s? Yeah, it’s the same concept. Just sheer boredom. No ones trying to offend anyone or make them uncomfortable.”
• “8=====D~~~ What was the question again?”
• “you know how most things get less fun the more times you do them? drawing dicks on stuff never gets less fun. every dick is just like the very first one”

From what I have gathered from these responses, the immediate answer is “drawing dicks is funny”. I could just stop the blog post right here, but I would like to explore this a bit more. Especially since we do not see vaginas, boobs, butts or beards depicted with same level of tenacity as the phallus. I could argue that the super weird mustache craze in the 2010s is about the closest equivalent but even then, that is now a dead trend while this one has not died.

Many of the answers seemed to suggest that gender was not actually at play here and it was just truly about the humor of genitalia. I was surprised to find that a number of females admitted that they too drew dicks and that to them it was a universally humorous symbol. Another argument I saw to the “it’s not that deep or gendered” side is that the penis is just really easy to draw and visually recognize compared to, say, the vagina, so it is easier to get a laugh.

I think the “it’s only for the joke” argument holds water if the aforementioned penis is drawn intentionally for comedic value. This query could be further deconstructed into “why is the dick funny?” but I think this answer would have to less to do with masculinity and more to do arguably with the nature of toilet humor.

But words like “The first thing I drew” and “I have quite literally nothing else better to do” have me hesitant to equate all dick depictions with humor. A doodle of a penis implies a sense of absent-mindedness. Unintentional penis depictions, I would argue, can not be dismissed as humor and the cause must be something more psychoanalytical. There is a lot to be said about the nature of doodles, but I think that somebody doodling penises is likely thinking a great amount about the penis outside of getting a laugh.

Another main reason I would argue against entirely comedic motives is the quantity of dicks that we see dicks simply drawn for attention. In a The Verge article, a man in Manchester reportedly drew penises around city potholes in order to call enough attention to get the potholes fixed. Another example of this motive are the depictions of penises in Pompeii. Cobblestones of penises were used not for humor but to mark the way to a brothel during this time. This suggests that penises are not just symbols of humor, but universal symbols that we all pay attention to.

It is no secret that masculinity and power are correlated by society’s standards. By the same token, the penis and power are also correlated with each other. Gender is something that does not really physically exist, it is just something a societal construct. Therefore, maybe the depicted penis serves as some sort of reminder and attempt to continually perform masculinity.

In the end, these are all just theories and this perhaps is not that deep. Graffiti is its own problem, but dick depictions in itself is probably one of the least harmful parts of masculinity and thus one of the last things I wanted to explore for this class. I have never drawn a penis before but after writing about it for all this while, I might just go ahead and try it.

Finally, I leave the clip that inspired this fun thought process.

Links to Reddit Threads:

Men, why is there so many dicks drawn all over the place? from AskMen

When a Psychology Teacher Discusses Why Guys Draw Dicks on Everything from tumblr

Guys that draw dicks on stuff – why do you do it? from AskReddit