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THE DICK PIC PROJECT

This project explored public commentaries and discourses about the Dick Pic. It is funded by La Trobe University.

This study investigated why men might send women unsolicited pictures of their genitalia (otherwise known as ‘Dick Pics’) on various social media platforms such as dating websites (i.e. Tinder). It comprised of a literature review and small cultural analysis concerning how men's motivations for sending such photos are being framed in contemporary media.

Chief Investigator(s)

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Project Staff

  • Tinonee Pym, ARCSHS, La Trobe University

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Host Institution

  • The Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS), La Trobe University

 

Ethics

  • La Trobe University Human Research Council Ethics (HREC S16-207)

FINDINGS

METHOD

A cultural analysis of over 80 media articles, blogs and commentaries was conducted

HARMLESS

Some commentaries saw Dick Pics as funny and harmless. In these commentaries, Dick Pics were often positioned as unthreatening, and people's experiences of them as violent were regarded as exaggerated.

CONFUSION

Some commentaries noted confusion concerning appropiate relations between men and women, and often relied on biological arguments about the innate differences in what men and women want romantically and sexually

VIOLENCE

Dominant commentaries about Dick Pics often noted them to be sexually violent, aggressive, and an outcome of cisgender, heterosexual men's entitlements to women's bodies

EROTIC

While limited, some commentaries noted a desire for Dick Pics, as well as spaces in which Dick Pics could be queered and seen as desirable and erotic


PATHOLOGY

Men who engaged in the practice of sending Dick Pics were regarded as having mental health issues. Such issues were often related to complex personality disorders such as Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

PROJECT UPDATES

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