Did SPS exist 100 years ago or is it just a sign of the times?

[Toosmallforcomfort]

Thoughts?

[Victimorthecrime]

Well it’s a big world so I imagine it existed somewhere.  But only as a fraction of a percentage that it does now.  The internet is what really ramped it up.  What do you think?

[Wayless]

I think there is cultural evidence that concern about penis size was common.  For instance, the Marquis de Sade (Frech Revolution Era) in his Philosophy in a Bedroom describes one of his moralistic characters sadistically ridiculed for having a small penis.  

Also, there are various tribes known to enlarge or attempt to enlarge their "members" with manual manipulation.  Others enhance them with large sheaths made of wood or stalks of some sort.  Some wore removed penises of defeated enemies as necklaces.  No, I can't document these instances, but have read or heard about them.

However, unless you frequented "libertine" circles, the issue was probably not front and center like it is now due to internet porn.  But, on the other hand, the word cuckold wasn't invented yesterday..  There are many "ribald" periods in history.

 

[Nimmo]

I'd be fairly certain that yes, it did exist in some form but not exactly as it does today.

There would have been numerous times when males would be naked together in a non-sexual context, and I believe many of the average and smaller ones will have felt inadequate due to their size difference. On the other hand there are countless social factors which are different from a hundred years ago, and these differences might well have, or are almost certain to have, affected the way those feelings were framed and experienced.

One example, not quite from a hundred years ago but far enough from now to be relevant. The modernist writer Malcolm Lowry was (relatively) recently outed by a former lover as having had feelings equivalent to SPS. Apparently his penis was small, his brothers used to torment him about it, and as an adult he was insecure about his penis size. Also incidentally a lifelong alcoholic, which publicly was viewed or presented in the context of being a tortured artist.

And in fact a more well known literary incident or anecdote isn't far off its centenary now, when Ernest Hemingway (by his own possibly self serving account) was called upon to reassure Scott Fitzgerald about his apparently small penis. Which even if a completely fabricated incident shows that size anxiety was an established thing, although it obviously wouldn't have been the case that such anxieties would have a medical or quasi medical diagnostic term back then.

[Wayless]

Sex researcher Kinsey did his work almost 100 years ago, now.  He portrayed size as anecdotally quite important in the minds of men if memory serves.  This was before porn was easily available.

The novel Mandingo showed the obsession with the allegedly larges penises of Black men going back to slavery times.  Men being cuckolded by their sexually superior slaves was a common obsession leading to atrocities and false (or not so false) accusations.

I've often wondered if the traditional restrictions on sex, etc. weren't designed to protect men from sps and other mental pathologies. 

"Hey!  Keep sex within marriage, don't get "adventerous", stay moral, and you'll feel better!"  "Ignorance is bliss!"

I am old enough to remember when the birth control "pill" was invented.  In many quarters it was assumed an era of universal sexual happiness would be ushered in. . . .  NOT!

[Toosmallforcomfort]

13 hours ago, Victimorthecrime said:

What do you think?

I think the real answer is complicated.  While I do think SPS, or more accurately, sexual inferiority complex has been around since the dawn of man, there have been society and cultural changes that have made this affliction worse in the last 100 years, especially in Western societies.

The most obvious culprit is the development of the internet and the resultant easy access to porn.  The pornography industry has poisoned the mindset of millions and of men and women who suffer from an inferiority disposition with unrealistic expectations for the average or below average individual.  Many of them are professionals, akin to the superior athletic performance of players in a NBA game compared to a pickup up game at a local park.  While most of us happily accept that we will not be in the NBA, it is much more difficult to accept inferiority with a powerful biological need such as sex, and not just average sex, but the learned expectation of superior sex provided by the entertainment industry for both men and women.

This may not sit well with women on this site, and I’m a bit reluctant to say this but mean no disrespect, but I believe the rise of SPS/male sexual inferiority complex is in part secondary to the society evolution of women’s liberation.  This has resulted in significant society change in the minds of women regarding marriage, monogamous relationships, and has led to women having many more sex partners than 100 or 1000’s of years ago.  Woman have much less shame regarding multiple partners (no more scarlet letters placed on women’s chests), dependency on men for financial stability, no longer fear out of wedlock pregnancy given the pill/day after pill, chemical and mechanical abortion, and are now exposed to this lifestyle as a mainstream life experience through the entertainment industry.  Personally, I had reservations with a relationship with my wife knowing that she had many more sexual experiences than I had when we met, but I pursued.  Perhaps, I set myself up for failure with that always in the back of my mind.  I know I’m not alone given what I’ve read on this site.

The secularization of society has diminished the desire for marriage, monogamy, and “god-like” behavior, if you will.  While I’m no fan of organized religion, a manmade concept which ultimately becomes corrupt in most instances (recovering Catholic), their teachings of these ideals are being lost.

[Nimmo]

Once it becomes (relatively) socially acceptable for women to enjoy sex and to do so with more than one partner, then it does seem that would amplify the insecurities of men who suspect themselves to be poor sexual partners for whatever reason, basically through the fear of better options being available. 

But as much as that might be the case, what of the anxieties and loneliness of the unhappily married years ago, or single for that matter, with no way to express these feelings anywhere, and nowhere to go to try and develop an understanding of them and what to do about them? Is there really any way to know how many people lived like that, and what it felt like in comparison to today?

[Wayless]

14 minutes ago, Nimmo said:

Once it becomes (relatively) socially acceptable for women to enjoy sex and to do so with more than one partner, then it does seem that would amplify the insecurities of men who suspect themselves to be poor sexual partners for whatever reason, basically through the fear of better options being available. 

But as much as that might be the case, what of the anxieties and loneliness of the unhappily married years ago, or single for that matter, with no way to express these feelings anywhere, and nowhere to go to try and develop an understanding of them and what to do about them? Is there really any way to know how many people lived like that, and what it felt like in comparison to today?

Back then, such men had the option of thinking themselves "moral" to counterbalance such feelings.  Doesn't work so well now!

[Nimmo]

Still an option, just without the added bonuses of social approval and heavenly paradise!

Actually I agree that ideas of religious virtue probably did give small dicked men other options that aren't realistically available today.