Posted by Blogger Name. Category:
Aaron Smith
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Male genitalia
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Paul Lewis
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Quote of the Day
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Selfie
We've resisted any urge to comment on the Aaron Smith "selfie" story which broke last week. But sitting in an Auckland cafe yesterday we read Paul Lewis' column in the Herald on Sunday and laughed, as did SWMBO obeyed when we passed the paper to her.
So here's a taste of Paul Lewis' column which runs under the headline Making a dick of themselves (beware: this may not be everyone's cup of tea):
This is not a column for the faint-hearted. It's about All Black Aaron Smith and the puzzling trend of athletes and politicians choosing to take pictures of their genitalia with said pics winding up on the internet.
This is not an apology for Smith; taking a naked selfie and sending it means, frankly, he could be dumber than a toaster. But it's the psychology of the whole thing that intrigues. If I was called on to write a list of things I would never do, taking a picture of my meat and two veg and sending it to someone would be very high.
So what is it that stimulates blokes to take a picture of their bits and ping it off to an unsuspecting world? It can't be that they think it is erotic. Women, oddly enough, don't fall down in a swoon because a male reveals his, er, character.
I mean, let's face it, God must have been on a day off when the Celestial Design Department responded to the brief on the male genitalia. It's a classic design fail. Functional, yes, but why couldn't they and/or evolution have made it look like something attractive to women? I mean, if it looked like a giant edamame bean with two discount vouchers to Jimmy Choo's, we might have a decent rationale for exhibitionism.
No, men in the public eye who take pictures of their best friend is likely down to two simple explanations: overblown pride and a dumb belief in your own press releases; that somehow you are so famous that a pinky post will not damage your image at all.
Politicians are supposed to be media savvy but that can't explain the wonderfully named Anthony Weiner, whose inability to stop sending weiner-pics to women led to having to wave bye-bye to the New York mayoralty race. There was Australia's own Peter Dowling, chairman of the Queensland parliament's ethics committee (true!) who stood down after sexting a pic of himself in a glass of wine. Ah, yes, a penis looks better in a pinot. Room temperature, naturally.
There's quite a bit more to Lewis' story, including a wonderful reference to former baseball star Joe DiMaggio, but you'll have to follow the link and find the story for yourself. It is a very entertaining yet perceptive piece of social commentary however.
You can be assured of one thing. We will NEVER take a photo of ourselves in a state of undress, much less post it anywhere. For that, the blogosphere should be eternally grateful!
