Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Male genital modification

A sexual selection interpretation

  • Published:
Human Nature Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

By modifying the body in meaningful ways, human beings establish their identity and social status. Lip plugs, ear plugs, penis sheaths, cosmetics, ornaments, scarification, body piercings, and genital modifications encode and transmit messages about age, sex, social status, health, and attractiveness from one individual to another. Through sociocultural sexual selection, male genital modification plays an important role as a sociosexual signal in both male competition and female mate choice. The reliability of the signal correlates with the cost of acquiring the trait. Women use a variety of cues to assess male quality. Male genital modification is one way that some women assess their mates. Extreme male genital modifications not only honestly advertise status, sexual potency, and ability to provide sexual satisfaction, they may provide a reliable index of male-female cooperation through the male’s commitment to endure pain and risk.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adriani, N., and A. C. Kruyt 1951 De Bare’e spreckende Toradjas van Midden-Celebes (de Oost-Toradjas) tweede deel. Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Verhandelingen, Afdeling Letterkunde.Nieuwe Reeks 55. Amsterdam: N. V. Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers Maatschappij (translated for HRAF by Jenni Kerding Moulton).

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersson, M. 1994Sexual Selection. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berndt, R., and C. H. Berndt 1951Sexual Behavior in Western Arnhem Land. New York: Viking Fund.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berns, M. C. 1988 Ga’anda Scarification: A Model for Art and Identity. InMarks of Civilization, A. Rubin, ed. Pp. 57–76. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bettelheim, B. 1954Symbolic Wounds: Puberty Rites and the Envious Male. New York: Collier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bianchi, R. S. 1988 Tattoo in Ancient Egypt. InMarks of Civilization, A. Rubin, ed. Pp. 1–28. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bilmes, J., and A. Howard 1980 Pain as Cultural Drama.Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly 5(2–3):10–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bohannan, P. 1988 Beauty and Scarification Amongst the Tiv. InMarks of Civilization, A. Rubin, ed. Pp. 77–82. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brain, R. 1979The Decorated Body. New York: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, D. E. 1990 The Penis Pin: An Unsolved Problem in the Relations Between the Sexes in Borneo. InFemale and Male in Borneo, V. H. Sutlive, Jr., ed. Pp. 435–454. Williamsburg: Borneo Research Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, D. E., J. W. Edwards, and R. P. Moore 1988The Penis Inserts of Southeast Asia. Berkeley: Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies, University of California at Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Busch, H., and B. Silver 1990Kokigami: The Intimate Art of the Little Paper Costume. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buss, D. M. 1989 Sex Differences in Human Mate Preferences: Evolutionary Hypothesis Tested in 37 Cultures.Behavioral and Brain Sciences 12:1–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buss, D. M., M. Abbott, A. Argleitner, A. Asherian et al. 1990 International Preferences in Selecting Mates: A Study of 37 Cultures.Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 21(1):5–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buss, D. M., and M. F. Barnes 1986 Preferences in Human Mate Selection.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50:559–570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter, C. S. 1992 Oxytocin and Sexual Behavior.Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 16:131–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cavalli-Sforza, L. L., and M. W. Feldman 1981Cultural Transmission and Evolution: A Quantitative Approach. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cawte, J. E., N. Djagamara, and M. J. Barrett 1966 The Meaning of Subincision of the Urethra to Aboriginal Australians.British Journal of Medical Psychology 39:245–253.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesser, E. 1957The Sexual, Marital and Family Relationships of the English Woman. New York: Roy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darling, C., K. Davidson, and D. Jennings 1991 The Female Sexual Response Revisited: Understanding the Multiorgasmic Experience in Women.Archives of Sexual Behavior 20(6):527–540.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, C. 1871The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. New York: Collier & Son.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, K. J. 1991 The Sexually Experienced Woman: Multiple Sex Partners and Sexual Satisfaction.Journal of Sex Research 20:141–154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawkins, M. S., and T. Guilford 1991 The Corruption of Honest Signalling.Animal Behavior 41:865–873.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drewel, H. J. 1988 Beauty and Being: Aesthetics and Ontology in Yoruba Body Art. InMarks of Civilization, A. Rubin, ed. Pp. 83–96. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural Anthropology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dugatkin, L. A. 1992 Sexual Selection and Imitation: Females Copy the Mate Choice of Others.American Naturalist 139(6):1384–1389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eberhard, W. G. 1985Sexual Selection and Animal Genitalia. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1990 Animal Genitalia and Female Choice.American Scientist 78:134–141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, B. J. 1992 The Evolution of Sexual Attraction: Evaluative Mechanisms in Women. InThe Psychology of Mating and Sex, L. Cosmides and J. Tooby, eds. Pp. 267–289. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faris, J. C. 1972Nuba Personal Art. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1988 Significance of Differences in Male and Female Personal Art of the Southeast Nuba. InMarks of Civilization. A. Rubin, ed. Pp. 29–40. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural Anthropology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, R. A. 1930The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, S. 1973The Female Orgasm: Psychology, Physiology, Fantasy. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gladsjo, L. A. 1991Stigmata. Video produced and directed by L. A. Gladsjo.

  • Gould, R. A. 1968 Masculinity and Mutilation in a Primitive Society.Medical Opinion and Review 4:59–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Grafen, A. 1990 Biological Signals as Handicaps.Journal of Theoretical Biology 144:517–546.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haartman, K. 1992 Cross-Cultural Patterns in Hyper-Masculinity.Melanie Klein and Object Relations 10(2):69–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrington, C. 1968 Sexual Differentiation in Socialization and Some Male Genital Mutilations.American Anthropologist 70:951–953.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrisson, T. 1956 Rhinoceros in Borneo.The Sarawak Museum Journal 7:263–274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heywood, J. S. 1989 Sexual Selection by the Handicap Mechanism.Evolution 43:1387–1397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoelzer, G. A. 1989 The Good Parent Process of Sexual Selection.Animal Behavior 38:1067–1078.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogbin, I. 1970The Island of Menstruating Men. Scranton: Chandler.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurlbert, D. F. 1991 The Role of Assertiveness in Female Sexuality: A Comparative Study between Sexually Assertive and Sexually Nonassertive Women.Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy 17(3):183–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaeppler, A. 1988 Hawaiian Tattoo: A Conjunction of Genealogy and Aesthetics. InMarks of Civilization. A. Rubin, ed. Pp. 157–170. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural Anthropology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinsey, A. C., W. B. Pomeroy, C. E. Martin, P. H. Gebhard, et al. 1953Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkpatrick, M. 1982 Sexual Selection and the Evolution of Female Choice.Evolution 36:1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kodric-Brown, A., and J. Brown 1984 Truth in Advertising: The Kinds of Traits Favoured by Sexual Selection.American Naturalist 124(3):309–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lande, R. 1980 Sexual Dimorphism, Sexual Selection, and Adaptation in Polygenic Characters.Evolution 36: 213–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lightfoot-Klein, H. 1989 The Sexual Experience and Marital Adjustment of Genitally Circumcised and Infibulated Females in the Sudan.Journal of Sex Research 26(3):375–392.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Low, B. 1892 The Natives of Borneo. Edited from the Papers of the Late Brooke Low, Esq. by Henry Ling Roth.Journal of the Anthropological Institute 22:22–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mantegazza, P. 1935Sexual Relations of Mankind. New York: Falstaff Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, D. S. 1971 Sexual Behavior on Mangaia. InHuman Sexual Behavior, D. Marshall and R. Suggs, eds. Pp. 103–162. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maynard Smith, J. 1991 Theories of Sexual Selection.Trends in Ecology and Evolution 6(5):146–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLuhan, T. C. 1971Touch the Earth: A Self-Portrait of Indian Existence. Toronto: New Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meggitt, M. J. 1965Desert People. A study of the Walbiri Aborigines of Central Australia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montagu, M. F. 1974Coming Into Being among the Australian Aborigines. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers, J. 1992 Nonmainstream Body Modification: Genital Piercing, Branding, Burning and Cutting.Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. 21(3):267–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ogden, G. 1988 Women and Sexual Ecstasy: How Can Therapists Help?Women and Therapy 7(2–3):43–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Otto, H. A. 1988 The Extended Orgasm: New Perspectives. Paper presented at the 31st Annual Meeting for the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, November, San Francisco.

  • Paige, K. E., and J. M. Paige 1981The Politics of Reproductive Ritual. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pomiankowski, A. 1987 The Costs of Choice in Sexual Selection.Journal of Theoretical Biology 128:195–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Price, T. D., D. Schluter, and N. E. Heckman 1993 Sexual Selection When the Female Directly Benefits.Biological Journal of the Linnaen Society 48:187–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rainwater, L. 1966 Some Aspects of Lower Class Sexual Behavior.Journal of Social Issues 22:96–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rancour-Laferriere, D. 1985Signs of the Flesh. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, A. F. 1988 Tabwa Tegumentary Inscription. InMarks of Civilization, A. Rubin, ed. Pp. 41–56. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural Anthropology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roheim, G. 1945The Eternal Ones of the Dream. New York: International Universities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1974Children of the Desert. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seeger, A. 1975 The Meaning of Body Ornaments: A Suya Example.Ethnology 14:211–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sevely, J. 1987Eve’s Secrets. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sevely, J., and J. W. Bennett 1978 Concerning Female Ejaculation and the Female Prostate.Journal of Sex Research 14:1–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siggers, J. 1996 The Venus Figures of ‘Ain Gazal: Scarification and Relationship of Body Modification and the Rise of Fertility Cults in the Neolithic of Western Asia.Journal of Field Archaeology, in press.

  • Sigmon, B. A., and T. Royko 1995 The Female Prostate. Paper presented at The International Symposium on Primate Ontogeny. Primatological Group of the Czech Anthropological Society. September 1995. Trest: Czech Republic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singer, P., and D. E. Desole 1967 The Australian Subincision Ceremony Reconsidered: Vaginal Envy or Kangaroo Bifid Penis Envy.American Anthropologist 69:355–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smuts, B. 1994 The Evolutionary Origins of the Patriarchy.Human Nature 6(1):1–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spencer, B., and F. Gillen 1927The Arunta. A Study of a Stone Age People. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strathern, A., and M. Strathern 1971Self Decoration in Mount Hagen. London: Gerald Duckworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trivers, R. L. 1972 Parental Investment and Sexual Selection. InSexual Selection and the Descent of Man 1871–1971. B. Campbell, ed. Pp. 136–179. Chicago: Aldine-Atherton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, T. S. 1971 Cosmetics: the Language of Bodily Adornment. InConformity and Conflict, J. Spradley and D. McCurdy, eds. Pp. 96–105. Boston: Little, Braun.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1980 The Social Skin. InNot Work Alone: A Cross-Cultural View of Activities Superfluous to Survival, J. Cherfas and R. Lewin, eds. Pp. 112–140. Beverly Hills: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vale, V., and A. Juno 1989Modern Primitives. An Investigation of Contemporary Adornment and Ritual. San Francisco: RE/SEARCH Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogel, S. 1988 Baule Scarification: The Mark of Civilization. InMarks of Civilization, A. Rubin, ed. Pp. 97–105. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural Anthropology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weatherhead, P. L., and R. J. Robertson 1979 Offspring Quality and the Polygyny Threshold: “The Sexy Son Hypothesis.”American Naturalist 113:201–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, R. 1989 Toward a Contextual Understanding of the Earliest Body Ornaments. InThe Emergence of Modern Humans, E. Trinkaus, ed. Pp. 211–277. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whiting, J., R. Kluckhohn and A. Anthony 1958 The Function of Male Initiation Ceremonies at Puberty. InReadings in Social Psychology, E. Maccoby, T. Newcomb, E. Hartley, eds. Pp. 359–370. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wickler, W. 1967 Socio-sexual Signals and Their Intra-specific Imitation among Primates. InPrimate Ethology, D. Morris, ed. Pp. 69–147. London: Wiedenfield and Nicolson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willis, L. 1989 Uli Painting and the Igbo World View.African Arts 23:62–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zahavi, A. 1975 Mate Selection: A Selection for a Handicap.Journal of Theoretical Biology 53:205–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 1977 The Cost of Honesty (Further Remarks on the Handicap Principle).Journal of Theoretical Biology 67: 603–605.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Toronto, 3359 Mississauga Road North, L5L 1C6, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

    Raven Rowanchilde

Authors
  1. Raven Rowanchilde
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raven Rowanchilde.

Additional information

Raven Rowanchilde studies sociocultural anthropology at the University of Toronto. She has been researching body modification since 1990 and is currently writing a book on the neo-primitive tattooing, piercing, and scarification revival in Toronto.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rowanchilde, R. Male genital modification. Human Nature 7, 189–215 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692110

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692110

Key words

Search

Navigation