A Penis Manologue (ePub)

After reading The Vagina Monologues, I put together a survey for both men and women. I passed out self-addressed stamped envelopes for the anonymous questionnaire. Everyone I asked personally agreed to fill one out. I put the survey on my Web site, g. I expected to get several hundred replies to my survey. Total replies I received: One. I couldn't believe that in this enlightened age men and women wouldn't talk about the penises in their lives

Expecting to acquaint myself with some open-minded men willing to fill out my survey, I attended a meeting on Men and Masculinity at Prescott College in Prescott, AZ. To my surprise, mostly women showed up to discuss masculinity. They seemed interested to learn what makes us guys tick. Apparently, we men don't talk about how masculine we are, so I don't know how women are going to learn about masculinity without any men willing to share their thoughts. I guess most men feel we already know we're masculine and don't need to discuss our feelings and emotions as women do. If we do, other men will look at us as though we're sissified.

After experiencing the reluctance of males to talk about their penises, I figured I'd change the title of my work to A Penis Manologue, because I'm the only one expressing an opinion.

A highly educated woman who read my outline implied that I'd portrayed all men as potential rapists because of my statements throughout the story indicating that men think about and need sex often. Having sex is a healthy habit, in my opinion, but I told her that rape has nothing to do with sex—it's all about control. Rape is a crime of violence, not passion. Sex is not the chief thing that motivates rapists, says A. Nicholas Groth, director of an innovative sex-offender program at the state prison in Somers, Connecticut. "Rape is the sexual expression of aggression." 1 I personally have never thought about raping anybody even though I've been a horn dog most of my life. I can't remember anyone ever saying, "I'd rape her", or "I'd like to rape her," during any group discussion. I've heard men say what they'd like to enjoy doing sexually to some beauty, but never once heard a man talk about raping someone.

When I was researching penis facts, I found information that has changed my entire attitude. When I began to write my response to The Vagina Monologues, I wanted to make a comedy out of the story. However, once I started researching and saw the horrors of genital mutilation and other practices that go on around the world, in all strata of societies, I became emotionally upset. I'm one of those people who empathize with any type of victim. The thought of being raped is horrendous to me, and I can't begin to say how I was affected when I learned about genital mutilation.

When I first began to write what eventually turned into this book, my intention was to use it in a screenwriting class at Yavapai College. However, when I attempted to read my chapter on prison rape, my female instructor banned the story from the classroom. It was hard for me to believe that a college instructor would find talking about Jolly Jellybeans a taboo subject. Maybe because nobody likes to talk about what goes on in prison. I began to think that for my mental health, I should shelve the project. Living and breathing penises was getting to me. It seemed like an abnormal subject to be devoting so much time to. However, when I saw how reticent most men and even a college teacher were to talk about penises, I felt obligated to write about them. So I elected myself to be the official Nookie Probe writer.