From smooth Barbie dolls to internet porn, girls and women grow up with a very narrow view of what they should look like, even though in reality there is an enormous range. Womanhood departs from the ‘ideal vagina’ and presents the gentle un-airbrushed truth, allowing us to understand and celebrate our diversity. But outside of the context of our sexual partners or porn, we don’t actually get to have a proper look at them, in all their glorious variety.

connects to what many of the themes, quotes, and anecdotes in Manhood: The Bare Reality encompassed. Men view their genitalia as an extension of their manhood and will literally choose to […]

Everyone’s different

I had no idea how many men believed they're too small. It's very common. And the men who thought they were too small looked really normal size to me. There are men that said who would've moved differently in the world of men if they were bigger." It’s divisive to have all these projections about what men and women do. None of it’s helpful. We have to just experience each other in the moment.” Object of fear and arousal. Symbol of dominance. Source of anxiety. A potent combination of power and pleasure. Once upon a time, penises occupied their place on the pedestal with pride, from the holy worship of the phallus in ancient Rome to the Shiva Linga, but they have also long been associated with base level male banter, ridicule and fear. Today, in the wake of #MeToo and #TimesUp has the penis become even more taboo? And how does a young generation of men feel about masculinity being labelled “toxic”? I found it very illuminating in hearing each man's story about his relationship with his penis, his views on life in regards to it and how porn, abuse, size and cancer's have shaped each persons outlook on their views towards their penises and life in general. It was also interesting to see how older men had matured over the years in their views towards women, men, sex and/or being gay or transgendered. There is sadness as well that many men have experienced in their lives and sexuality and how they are working through that.

They really do vary a lot more than I thought, which was interesting, and how men feel about them varies just as much.” Surprise, surpriseAs a small child, you were told, ‘Big boys don’t cry.’ I think this is why men sometimes have a higher incidence of some of the serious illnesses because we don’t like to complain about being ill.”

I think a lot of the men in this project would have benefited from reading Manhood when they were younger and it would have dispelled myths and put their minds at rest.Photographer Laura Dodsworth has put together a book of photos of all different sorts of penises — long ones, short ones, skinny ones, fat ones, old ones, young ones, and every other sort of penis you can ~dream~ up. If women are going to stand there and expose themselves in that open way, then to be one of the men who is willing to do that is a really positive thing.” What do a veteran and a vicar, a porn addict and a prostate cancer survivor, a would-be father and an ex-con have in common? They have all bared their soul – and the contents of their trousers – to photographer Laura Dodsworth, the author of a new book Manhood: The Bare Reality. It consists of 100 photographs of naked men, from the navel down, accompanied by interviews of each, typically starting off by describing how they feel about their penis. What do they look like?