Exploring the Cultural Phenomenon of the Dick Pic

Book excerpt: This book explores the dick pic in popular culture. Drawing from a range of disciplines, cultural analyses, lived experiences and theoretical approaches, this book explores the polysemous nature of dick pics. It looks at historical and contemporary theorisations of the penis/phallus, sexualisation and sexual objectification of the male body arguments, contemporary public discourses concerning the dick pic, and men’s lived experiences of sexting and dick pic sending. Made possible by advances in mobile and digital technologies, the dick pic is often regarded as a harmful endemic, particularly in the wake of increased recognitions of sexual violence against women. However, very little has been done to explore dick pics outside of violence, pathological, and moral panic framings, such as the erotic possibilities and understandings of the dick pic, and the way certain discourses continue to work to shape and frame how we engage and understand the dick pic in contemporary culture. This will be key reading for scholars and students in Women’s and Gender Studies, Sexuality Studies, Masculinity and Sociology.