- The Good: Lots of incredible facts about penises
- The Bad: Written combatively instead of persuasively
- The Literary: Less than literary, with paragraphs that end in #truth
Phallacy is a nonfiction science book about the penises of the animal kingdom, while also challenging the message that the penis can be responsible for a man’s behavior and that the human penis is a tool for intimacy, not intimidation.
I really like the idea of this book. We humans are obsessed with penises. But when we compare ourselves to the wild diversity of life, the human penis is comparatively un-remarkable. Evolutionary pressures have created a huge variety of intromitta (the term to describe organs that transmit gametes from one partner to another). Intromitta can be spiraled, mace-tipped, needle-barbed, even multi-headed. Although Willingham’s book is well researched, but it reads more like a list of facts in paragraph form or a reference book, without structure, narrative, or context to ground the reader, so specifics are difficult to recall.
Willingham’s thesis is that the human penis doesn’t have any weapons; it isn’t flashy in any way really. This sits nicely alongside the human tendency toward prolonged and cooperative bonding. Historically the scientific community has focused on researching only one side of mating organs. Whereas the penis receives all of our attention, the vagina is only a passive receptacle. Not only scientists, but society has also overemphasized the penis, using it as the measure of a man, even in our everyday vernacular.
This is where my good comments end. The prose is poor. Willingham belittles the scientific community, using obnoxious sarcasm as humor. Worst of all, her outright misandric message is hurtful for the women’s rights movement. The entire book feels like an excuse for Willingham to rant and tirade repetitively, but not in a way that advances her argument, only her frustration. While I agree with a lot of the premise of this book, the way in which it is presented is extremely off-putting.
Not recommended as a pop science book, as it in no way increases the love of learning about the natural world. I’m giving it two stars rather than just one only because it does contain some genuinely interesting facts about reproduction in the animal kingdom.