“It’s just a penis”: Examining men’s talk about dick pics in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

Over the past five or so years, 'dick pics' have become a growing cultural phenomenon. The colloquial term refers to a phallocentric practice where men create and send images of their genitalia via digital technologies. More specifically, unsolicited dick pics have emerged as a growing concern, and numerous women have reportedly received uninvited explicit sexual images from men online. Despite having an active presence within media and popular culture, dick pics have received very little attention within academic research. In this study, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 men in Aotearoa New Zealand to examine the interpretative repertoires that are available for making sense of the practice. The men were asked to talk about dick pics from a general perspective, although some also spoke about personal experiences or observations. Consistent with the narrative found in popular media, most of the men suggested unsolicited dick pics are abundant within contemporary society. They typically described the practice as an instrumental strategy that men may use when seeking casual sex and/or a nude photo of a woman. However, they also emphasised that this does not usually work for men, hence portraying the practice as common, but unsuccessful. I explore this tension by examining the discursive resources the participants drew upon to explain why men continue to send (unsolicited) dick pics to women, even though, as they suggested, the sexual images are not well received. I also analyse how the men spoke about unsolicited dick pics as a problem (or not). Overall, the men tended to draw upon socially embedded assumptions about masculinity and narrow understandings of harm to make sense of the practice. I demonstrate how these discursive resources implicitly work to naturalise, minimise, and justify men's uninvited sexual behaviour towards women. In turn, I argue this limits the space for talking about unsolicited dick pics as problematic and harmful to women. In a conceptual rejoinder, I conclude by examining unsolicited dick pics from a critical feminist perspective and situate the practice within a broader domain of online harassment and misogyny. By locating unsolicited dick pics within a continuum of sexual violence (Kelly, 1987), I argue the practice restricts women's agency and reinforces gendered inequalities.