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(mysterious music)

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- [Voiceover] The story of the penis is a long one.

So let's start at the beginning.

The very beginning of time itself.

- [Man] About four and a half billion years ago

the earth formed, and then another half billion years

came the point where water began to condense

on the early Earth.

So, the way I look at the early Earth was,

oceans, basically a global ocean of volcanic land masses

rising up, and sometime, in maybe a hundred million year

time frame, somehow, the first forms

of living systems arose.

Question is, how do these guys reproduce?

And the answer is, mostly, they just divided.

So, you know, that's what bacteria do today.

Every 20 minutes, an E. Coli can divide

if the conditions are right,

but, let me point out that even bacteria

have a version of what we call genetic interchange material,

otherwise known as sex.

And they have little tubules that link up between them,

and there's just an exchange of DNA

from one bacterium to another.

- [Voiceover] These tubules could be seen

as the earliest precursor of what

would one day become the penis.

- Well, the evolution of intermittent organs

like the penis, or the claspers in sharks,

is because originally the oldest record of it

that we have from fossils,

these bony structures in these ancient placoderms

that we presume were for internal fertilization.

And they developed from the same pattern of bones

that forms the pelvic fins, which would

later become the legs of higher vertebrates.

So, in other words, we're talking about

sexual organs in the males that are an offshoot

from the leg skeleton.

Later on, that attachment to the legs

was completely lost as animals left the water,

and it became a soft organ, but it's still

genetically linked to the origin of limbs.

- Okay, what's a penis?

A penis is a structure, specialized for males,

that is used to take sperm from the male's body,

and deposit it into the female's body.

- Theoretically, you could do that just with a simple tube.

But yet, when we look in nature, we actually see that

penises can be incredibly varied.

- Insects, for example, have penis-like organs,

but they have a different name in biology.

It's called an aedeagus in an insect, but it's a sharp

structure that the male can

put inside the female to deposit sperm.

Does exactly the same thing.

So, in bed bugs, the males have evolved a stabbing penis,

which basically they use to perforate

through the female exoskeleton.

In other creatures, for example, barnacles,

they have incredibly long, flexible penises

that could be nine times the length of the male,

and they can shed them each year and grow new ones

according to the environmental conditions they're in.

You find them in flatworms, you find them in snails,

on the slugs, and the octopus, the squid,

in the vertebrates you have turtles, and alligators,

and snakes, and lizards, they actually have something

called hemipenes, they have two.

The Argentine lake duck have the largest penis

known to any body weight of any backboned animal,

a penis that can measure up to 42 and a half centimeters

in an average-sized duck.

- These duck penises, they have a corkscrew shape,

and the males ejaculate in less than a third of a second.

So that is extraordinarily rapid,

I mean, we called it an explosive eversion,

because that is exactly what it is.

- Then there's mammals,

which we all know and love,

every mammal has a penis, but when it comes to

penis diversity, mammals turn out to be kind of boring.

The mechanism by which they make their penises erect,

in that sense, they're all the same.

(school bell ringing)

- [Voiceover] Mammals possess what is known as

a vascular erectile system,

as opposed to, for example, one powered

by pressurized lymph, like the spectacular duck penis.

This may seem elementary, but it

wasn't always common knowledge.

The Greeks were convinced that their erections

were filled with air, like a lung.

(deep breath)

But as we all know, when the human male is aroused,

it's a rush of blood that does the trick.

And this is true for all mammal penises.

(church bell ringing)

Here, in the sleepy arctic capital of Reykjavik,

is one of the world's true connoisseurs of the mammal penis.

A man who's given his life to the study of phallology.

(singing in foreign language)

- My name is Sigur ur Hjartarson,

and I am 72 years old.

- So how did this place begin, with the idea of...

- Well, it's a long story.

I got the first one, this one,

this is the first specimen,

when I was a small kid.

I was given a bull's penis like that, right,

as a whip for the, to take the cows to pasture, and so on.

So, that was the first, and after I got the first,

some friends of mine started bringing me penises

from a whaling station nearby,

and, to start with, it was just a joke,

but when I realized that this could be made

good collection, I intended to keep going,

and trying to improve it, and so on.

After we got all the Icelandic species of mammals,

we started the foreign section,

you can go on endlessly, you know?

- Sometimes I got to go with him, you know, to cut off

some whale penis,

or some, you know, bits, out in the country.

That was pretty cool for me as a boy, you know.

In his nature, he's a teacher, and was always,

always educating us, the kids, and everybody around him.

So maybe that's the main difference,

compared to other dads,

his need to educate everybody around him.

- We have 19 big families of mammals in the world.

Species within eight of them have a bone in their penis.

That's something people generally don't realize.

How many species have a bone in the limb,

and some of the mice, it's just a tiny,

two millimeters or something like that,

with a bone of one millimeter.

But it functions,

and these animals are very fertile, as you know.

So, the size is not everything, like some,

well, men, or women, like to think.

(intense music)

(door sliding)

(water dripping)

- There's something in the human psyche

that is ages old

that has, as part of our interior understanding

of the world,

the primary organs of the body.

You can see it in cave paintings from 35,000 years ago,

an early interest in Homo sapiens sapiens,

our species, in fertility, in the relationship

between sexuality and life,

and probably death,

and you can find that all over the world.

- In all Egyptian creation accounts, creation

emerges out of a watery, primordial one-ness,

just as they see the Nile flood each year

begin to recede in the plants and the land

begin to come out of the water.

- So, the Egyptians had a number of different creation myths

that are actually based in various cities,

so, for example, the city of Heliopolis,

you have a creation based on the god Ray Atum,

and he actually masturbates at the beginning of creation,

and through his masturbation, gives birth to

the Gods Shu and the Goddess Tefnut.

So that essentially you have one god

that makes himself into many.

- [Voiceover] And, at least one of those ancient gods

sported quite a healthy phallus.

- [Colleen Manassa] We do see phallic symbolism

in ancient Egypt, one of the main examples

is the god Min, who is another creator deity,

and is a god of fertility in particularly agriculture.

And he's shown as a mummiform god with an erect phallus.

You can see that all throughout temple walls

in ancient Egypt, so this wouldn't have been

considered pornographic for the ancient Egyptians,

but rather a representation of his fertile aspects.

So, almost as if the phallus is a hieroglyph,

marking his fertility.

- [Voiceover] As we'll see, this theme of fertility

is a common thread across time and civilizations.

Far across the globe, another religion still worships

what may be the greatest phallic god of them all.

The city of Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges,

is one of the great centers of pilgrimage in all of India.

Millions come to bathe in its waters,

and worship the city's chief god, Shiva.

This is Shiva,

and this is his lingam.

An object of adoration to his worshipers,

and a symbol of his power and vitality.

- Many Hindus will worship the lingam,

and Varanasi is the city of lingams,

like, every courtyard, every temple,

every time you turn around, you'll see a lingam.

There're literally lingams everywhere.

- Shiva is a god who is a god of life, if you like,

and is full of energy and power, he has (indistinct),

and that's depicted in the Shiva linga.

On one level, it is indeed the phallic form of Shiva,

and that's recognized in the Shiva scriptures.

But for ordinary devotees, the Shiva linga is

an object of great veneration and devotion,

and it's more akin to a crucifix, perhaps.

The word "linga" itself refers to the phallus,

but it also means sign, or symbol,

which is quite interesting in itself.

- Here's my lingam, that I have in the office,

it's a very simple form, and many of the Shiva lingams

are just as simple as this, smaller and larger and so forth.

It has painted on it the marks of the worshiper of Shiva,

the three marks across the forehead,

and it is situated inside the symbol of the yoni,

which is the female correspondent to the male part

of the Shiva lingam,

and the way people would worship it,

they would do puja to it, as they would

to an image of a god that had a face and arms.

You would offer it flowers, and the lingam

is said to generate heat, and so you keep it cool

by pouring water on it, and every worshiper of Shiva

has a lingam in some form, this is just the one

that I happen to have here.

- [Voiceover] But Hinduism isn't the only living religion

today that features phallic symbolism.

Further east, in the Land of the Rising Sun,

practitioners of Shinto also have a long tradition.

- [Man] I've watched businessmen do this

on the way to work, they'll be running to work

to try to catch the train, but they'll stop for

a couple minutes in front of a Shinto shrine,

wash their hands, wash out their mouth, clap,

be there silently, clap again,

and leave.

And this is just ubiquitous in Japan.

- [Voiceover] Shrines are indeed an integral part

of everyday life, providing a respite from

the daily hustle and bustle.

A place where old and young alike pray for success,

health, and fertility.

(coin dropping)

Shrines also serve as a focal point

for the country's many festivals.

- One of the festivals that's probably the best known

amongst foreigners in Japan, anyway,

is the so-called "Phallus Festival" at Komaki, near Nagoya.

This consists of taking a huge wooden phallus

around the town, and a lot of the participants

also carry phalluses themselves.

(people chanting)

(bells and whistles)

(drumming)

One particular aspect that I enjoyed when I was there

was a row of 32-year-old unmarried women,

all of them nursing quite a substantial

big phallus in their arms, which they parade to the shrine

to get the blessings of the kami for marriage

and fertility in their marriage.

One of the aspects of Shinto as a nature religion

is the cultivation of fertility in the crops,

and in human beings, because of passing on to the next

generation what has been learned,

and the gift of life itself.

Part of that fertility rite is, like in India,

the physical manifestation in phallus worship.

Before Meiji times, that's to say, before 1868,

carvings, statues, rock representations of penises,

were common throughout the whole of Japan.

Now, after 1868 when the Meiji government

wanted to modernize, and to look good in Western eyes,

these were all smashed and removed.

Not all of them, because you can still find some

in rural areas, but generally, I would imagine

about 90 percent of them were just obliterated.

- [Voiceover] The phallus lives on in Japan

through Shinto and its shrine culture.

But, unfortunately, its demise

most everywhere else in the world is another common theme

in the story of the phallus.

As Christianity and colonialism spread,

phallic symbols were erased.

Today, it's hard to find any trace of it

in the European continent,

save a few faint vestiges.

Here, in the northern Greek town of Tyrnavos,

a tradition tracing its roots to the ancient

phallic processions of Dionysus has been revived,

despite the opprobrium of the church.

(singing in Greek)

The Greek festival may lack some of the somber,

ceremonial aspects of its Japanese counterpart,

but it's one hell of a party.

(Greek music)

Further west in Europe, traces of phallic symbolism

are increasingly difficult to find.

The Cerne Abbas Giant in southern England

is a notable exception,

but its origins are something of a mystery.

Were they Druids, Romans, or 18th century pranksters

who carved this brute into the hillside?

Nobody knows.

(wind blowing)

Across the Atlantic, in North America,

the prospects are even more bleak.

An unlikely group of phallic worshipers

can be found here, in the French Canadian

province of Quebec.

On this quiet street, in this unassuming two-story residence

is the Montreal chapter of Saint Priapus.

(fire crackling)

- My name is David Francis Cassidy,

I am the Pontifex and High Priest of Priapus.

The Temple of Priapus is a way of calling

like-minded people who are interested in phallic worship

and using the phallus as a way of liberating themselves

to develop a spiritual connection with the phallus.

"Grant me, my lord, the privilege to receive

"the sacramental most holy seed,

"let me drink of your precious juices

"and let me honor you as we serve our priests,

"bringing them joy and sexual fulfillment

"in this joining with the brotherhood of the cock. Amen."

The phallus is one sense unique,

everybody has one, that's male,

but there's no two alike, like a fingerprint.

"Bring the joy of cock to all our senses,

"sight, taste, smell, feel..."

The phallus, for a man in most case,

is what helps define what a man is.

Once men find a comfort factor

and not a designation, you don't have to be gay

to enjoy the phallus,

straight men have been enjoying it for a long time,

they haven't allowed themselves to think about it

and grow with it in a more organized, spiritual sense.

(chanting)

That's been part of our role, is to help to

bring that form of liberation to people.

"Naked we stand, proudly showing our cocks,

"the staff of life, Priapus, cock and balls,

"together they represent the living trinity.

"Let us worship at your altar, spread your legs

"to better reveal the joy of man, your cock and balls."

- [Voiceover] From the god Min in Egypt,

and Shiva in India, to the fertility festivals

in Japan and Greece, and finally,

this basement temple in Montreal,

the significance of the phallus has steadily

diminished over time in most of the world.

This has been in large part due to the rise and spread

of Christianity around the globe.

It's displacement, and, in many cases, destruction,

of phallic imagery, and of all things pagan.

The major monotheistic religions,

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam,

play a central role in our next chapter,

as we look at a tradition with roots as ancient

as those of phallic worship.

Once again, we have to go back to ancient Egypt

to trace it to its earliest origins.

- The ancient Egyptians definitely practiced

circumcision, and in fact, they use this

as one of the markers of being an Egyptian.

One of the ways we know this is through

numerous representations in art,

and even the hieroglyph for a phallus

is always shown circumcised.

So, for the Egyptians, the ideal phallus

was one that was circumcised.

And they note when foreigners are not circumcised.

A great example of this, actually, is,

following the aftermath of a battle

around 1208 B.C. between the Egyptians and the Libyans,

in order to count the enemy dead, the usual practice

was to take a hand.

But because the Libyans were uncircumcised,

they cut off the phalli from the dead enemies

in order to count them, and they specifically state

in the text that they are phalli that are not circumcised,

that still have their foreskins.

And so we know from multiple representations in text

that circumcision was an inherent

Egyptian cultural practice.

- [Voiceover] But it would be the Jews

who turned it into the mark of a people.

(chanting in Hebrew)

- There's no question that circumcision was practiced

by some groups in the ancient near east

before it began to be part of Judaism,

but the Torah tells us that God spoke to Abraham

and commanded him to perform circumcision

as a sign of the covenant between what would become

the people of Israel, namely, Abraham and his family,

and God.

And, as time goes on, this is fully developed

as a sense that circumcision of males

is the symbol of this covenant between God and Israel.

- God creates a partnership.

He leaves it up to us to complete the human being,

in this case, the male.

So we become God's partners,

and it's literally a bodily sign of our commitment

to that relationship.

On an ethical, moral level, in terms of ethical perfection,

and on a philosophical level, in terms of

intellectual perfection.

(chanting in Hebrew)

- [Voiceover] Exactly how the ritual must be performed

is laid out in detail in the Torah.

(chanting in Hebrew)

- Classical Jewish tradition, the circumcision,

otherwise known as brit or bris,

the covenantal ceremony, takes place on the eighth day,

counting inclusively, after birth.

There is the ritual itself,

namely in which some experienced, practiced individual

will cut off the foreskin from the baby boy.

It is a very festive occasion,

even though most of the men there

all stand around nervously.

There is a risk, a small risk,

but there is a risk of danger, complication, infection,

blood loss, and the rest.

So it is at one in the same time an occasion

for excitement, an occasion for nervous anticipation,

the baby will go through the ritual that Jewish male babies

have been going through for millennia,

on the other hand, there's also a tinge of nervousness

and worry, frankly, and any parent who tells you

that they're not a little bit worried, I think,

are deceiving themselves.

(speaking Hebrew)

(camera click)

- It's taken in stride in ways that might seem,

to outsiders, to be very strange.

And that's because of its symbolism and holiness,

which is in the entire Jewish community.

Really from all groups from the Jewish community,

it remains a major, major part of being a Jew.

- [Voiceover] From ancient Judea to modern day Israel,

circumcision is an integral aspect of Judaism.

Islam, founded by the prophet Muhammad

long after Judaism, and 600 years after Christ,

also adopted circumcision,

though in a somewhat less central role.

- Circumcisions is Abraham's traditions,

it had been practiced by the prophet Abraham,

or Ibrahim in Arabic language,

and the Holy Qur'an says,

(speaking Arabic)

"And follow the faith of Abraham."

The prophet Muhammad, in fact, later on,

stressed upon the importance of circumcisions,

and it is consensusly agreed by the Muslim scholars

that it is obligatory upon all Muslim males

to be circumcised.

- [Voiceover] But in Christianity,

the story is quite different.

- Jesus was Jewish, he was born to a Jewish mother,

he went to the temple, he did all these things that Jews do,

so, as a Jewish male, we assume he was circumcised.

- The circumcision of Jesus somehow, paradoxically,

means not that we Christians are to circumcise

our own sons, imitating Christ,

rather, that the circumcision of Jesus

somehow brings to an end the Jewish circumcision.

This will become the standard Christian argument.

- If Christianity was going to insist on circumcision

for all Christians, this was a major impediment

to the growth of the church outside its Jewish roots.

Saint Paul very cleverly came up with the idea

that circumcision of the heart was sufficient,

which meant that you didn't actually have to be

physically circumcised, and that was a key event

in the transmission of Christianity from its Jewish roots

to the Roman empire.

- The division is clearly there.

Christianity instituted baptism

as its replacement for circumcision.

- [Voiceover] Though Christians rejected the practice

of circumcision, they did have to contend

with the thorny theological notion

that a piece of their lord's flesh

had been removed at birth.

Many abbeys and monasteries across medieval Europe

claim to house the holy foreskin.

- At the same time, other Christians are saying,

this is not possible.

The only flesh and blood that there can be

is on the altar, and so, we have one story

that when Jesus was resurrected on the third day

after the crucifixion, and when his physical body

went up to heaven, the foreskin, wherever it had been,

zipped up with him,

and now he is in heaven, intact.

(choir singing)

- [Voiceover] It makes sense that Israel

and a large portion of the Muslim world

have high rates of circumcision, based on

what we have seen in this segment.

But why, then, does the United States,

a so-called "Christian nation,"

have one of the highest rates of circumcision,

when Christianity expressly rejected the practice?

More than half of male babies born today are circumcised,

and at its height in the middle of the 20th century,

the rate reached nearly 90 percent.

Meanwhile, in South America, many people

have never even heard of the practice.

This is because it was the medical establishment

that influenced the rise of circumcision

in the United States.

And a key event in this evolution took place

in the 19th century, here, in New York City.

In the Victorian era, the medical profession

was coming into its own.

Doctors had become trusted and revered members of society.

One in particular, an original founder of the

Bellevue Hospital Medical College,

was this man,

Dr. Lewis D. Sayre.

Sayre was a well-renowned surgeon

who believed that circumcision could, in some cases,

cure paralysis.

His was not the first, nor last, claim

of circumcision's wondrous potential.

But he came at a time when the practice was beginning

to gain support as a medical procedure.

Among many of Sayres more moralistic contemporaries,

masturbation was seen as a malicious vice

that could cause all manner of ailments,

including epilepsy and insanity.

Prominent figures in American society,

including Dr. Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of Corn Flakes,

and Sylvester Graham, of Graham cracker fame,

promoted bland, healthy diets, and circumcision

as deterrents to masturbation.

But the real change would take place nearly a century later,

when a generation of American G.I.s returned from the war.

During their service, many had been encouraged

to get circumcisions if they weren't already circumcised.

This was believed to reduce the transmission

of venereal disease, and promote general hygiene.

Now, back in civilian life, they would choose

to have their sons circumcised

on an unprecedented scale.

Through the 1950s, as midwifery and home births waned

and the hospital system flourished,

medical insurance began to cover circumcision,

and the practice became normalized in American society.

- [Voiceover] Meat is a favorite with

almost everyone, everywhere.

- [Voiceover] Now, uncircumcised males were in the minority.

(slow music)

Fast-forward to the 21st century,

and things have changed significantly.

Growing skepticism of medical circumcision

has led to its decline nationwide,

and the emergence of an anti-circumcision movement,

largely based on the east and west coasts.

(people cheering)

In 2011, these "intact-ivists" decided to take legal action.

- [Voiceover] These stacks of petitions

carry the signatures of San Francisco residents

who want to ban the practice of circumcising baby boys.

- It's totally unnecessary, it's excruciatingly painful,

and it's harmful.

- Shouldn't parents be able to make that decision?

- Well, we think the owner of the penis

should be able to make the decision.

- [Voiceover] The American Academy of Pediatrics

says the medical benefits of circumcision

are not significant enough for the Academy

to recommend the procedure.

- The problem is banning my right, or somebody else's right,

outright, to practice what has been

a ritual practice for years.

- [Voiceover] Needless to say,

the proposed ballot measure stirred controversy.

- We got over 12,000 signatures of people

that are unequivocally supportive of restricting

infant circumcision.

People can't say, oh, this is just a couple of

fringe people, or crazies, that are against this.

- Well, the reaction was mixed, there were some saying that,

you know, this is crazy, why are we doing this,

this is a parent's right, and of course others

were very much in favor of it,

otherwise we wouldn't have been able to gather

that many signatures, but we got significant push-back

from the Jewish community, in particular,

the Jewish Community Relations Council.

- We were stunned when we saw this ballot measure.

It would have made it a criminal offense,

punishable by up to a year in county jail,

and a fine of up to $1,000 for any physician or a Mohel

to perform circumcision.

- It violates the First Amendment, because

you cannot force people to have to go before the public

and defend their religious practices that way.

Reason for this is that we're both trying to protect

people's religion, and also we're trying to protect

the state from getting torn into divisive controversies

about peoples' religious faith.

That's the theory of our First Amendment.

- Circumcision is a violation of human rights,

in my opinion, and in the opinion of many people

working on this issue, because the infant has not

agreed to have it done on them, by definition,

and it violates numerous human rights documents

that the U.S. and other countries are signatories to,

and yes, it's against the law.

- [Lloyd Schofield] This is San Francisco,

we don't care what you are, we care who you are,

people are very questioning, and don't just

follow tradition, especially if it's going to be harmful.

So people really get this issue on a one-to-one basis,

it certainly scared the opposition,

who spent over $100,000, obtained free legal representation

from one of the most prestigious international law firms

based in San Francisco, Morrison and Foerster.

Their e-mail addresses all start with "mofo dot com."

So these were pretty severe people, and up until

the day that I arrived in court for our final court hearing,

I did not have an attorney.

- I had not heard of the intact-ivist community.

I knew that there was some opposition to circumcision,

I did not realize, personally I didn't realize

that it was an organized group with its own

website, its own publications, it's own political action.

- [Voiceover] Despite their relatively limited resources,

and the negative reaction of San Francisco's Jewish

and Muslim minorities, public support of the

intact-ivists' ban remained strong.

Until, that is, Debra Saunders

of the San Francisco Chronicle

introduced the world to Foreskin Man.

- A source told me about this comic book,

Foreskin Man, and I went online, and I looked at it,

and I was shocked.

I mean, you had this blond Aryan hero,

you had this slimy, oily rabbi going after the babies.

* Foreskin man

- [Voiceover] And who was the creator

of the controversial comic book?

None other than the author of the proposed bill

to ban circumcision in San Francisco, Matthew Hess.

- The number one accusation was that

Foreskin Man is antisemitic.

I think what the problem was, is that they didn't

realize that we're against circumcision of all boys,

not just Jewish boys, you know,

issue number one was about medicalized circumcision,

and issue number three was about tribal circumcision,

that had nothing to do with Jewish circumcision.

A lot of people were upset when they saw these images,

but I think that's what it's going to take,

it's going to take direct criticism to really,

to get any sort of change to happen,

and people are talking about it, countries are now

trying to enact legislation, doctors' groups are

coming out against it, and this all came

after the Foreskin Man comic book series was published,

so, in my mind, it's been a success.

- Once people saw that, that measure was done.

It was over.

Nobody, this city does not want to engage

in that kind of vile caricature.

- Because of the sensitivity, which is

completely understandable, it turned into

this big media circus, and it really distracted

from the main issue, and

then we weren't talking about the issue anymore,

we were talking about this other thing.

- I think we,

we opened up the discussion on an international level,

and once the discussion's started, it can't be,

it's like the genie, it can't be put back in the bottle.

* Foreskin Man

* Protecting man parts for the win *

- [Voiceover] The measure never made it to the ballot.

A San Francisco judge threw it out on a technicality.

Subsequently, the California State Assembly

passed a bill prohibiting any future ballot measures

in California regulating the practice of circumcision.

However, the anti-circumcision movement

continues its struggle in other states.

- No medical excuse for genital abuse!

- Girls are protected, why aren't boys?

- Don't they have day jobs?

- [Voiceover] And although it's unlikely that any laws

will pass regulating circumcision in the United States,

it's clear that the practice is losing

some of its mainstream acceptance.

- [All] Infant circumcision, it's not your decision!

- In 2012, on the other side of the Atlantic,

in Germany, where less than five percent of males

are circumcised, one of the country's regional courts

actually went so far as to ban circumcision.

This took place in Cologne, on the banks of the Rhine,

a city known for its history,

trendy shopping,

modern amenities, and liberal attitude.

An unlikely flashpoint for a culture war.

It began with the circumcision of a

Turkish Muslim boy in Cologne.

In Turkish tradition, boys are often circumcised

at four to eight years of age.

In this particular case, complications

led to a trip to hospital.

Subsequently, a complaint was filed,

and although the surgeon was absolved of any wrongdoing,

circumcision itself was ruled unlawful

by Cologne's regional court.

- Cologne as a whole was not a hotbed of antisemitism,

but there were certainly

ripples under the surface of anti-Islam.

And there had been demonstrations whether or not

to allow a big mosque with a big tower to be constructed.

- [Voiceover] Any restrictions on Muslim circumcision,

of course, would also affect the country's Jews.

- [Voiceover] With a population of just 100,000,

compared to nearly 2 million Muslims,

Germany's Jewish minority nevertheless carried

enormous political weight,

both at home and internationally.

- Germany should be the last country

to have a debate on this general issue.

The debate on circumcision has to be judged by

what happened to German Jews in the Third Reich.

- [Voiceover] What is it specifically about

German history that could make this issue problematic?

- Oh, I would rather not talk about that,

because that is a very delicate subject, and

I get along with my English, but

if it comes to this, I want to be perfect, and

I don't feel comfortable speaking about this

topic in a foreign language, I'm sorry.

- We have a traditional antisemitic, antisemitic?

Or how you say this?

Antisemitic

background, I don't think that this is the situation,

but it's strange, it's strange for the common Germans,

circumcision, to perform circumcision.

- [Voiceover] Ultimately, this pressure caused Angela Merkel

and her conservative party to move a law

through Germany's parliament to protect circumcision.

The law was passed by a majority in the fall of 2012.

Whether the efforts in San Francisco, or Germany,

to restrict circumcision, had any antisemitic

or anti-Islamic motivation, is a matter of debate.

But what's clear is that the controversy over circumcision

isn't just limited to the United States.

Our chapter on circumcision comes to a close in South Korea,

one of the most recent and enthusiastic

adopters of the practice.

Here, as much as 80 percent of the male population

is circumcised.

But the reasons why may surprise you.

- South Korean circumcision began in the year 1945,

with the arrival of American troops in the Korean soil.

At that time, Koreans equalized America with modernization,

westernization, development, and so on.

So it was pretty clear that, okay, we want to develop,

we want to be like Americans, Americans are circumcised,

we should too.

(explosion)

- [Voiceover] However, Korean circumcision differs

from the American medical practice

in one very significant detail.

- Korean boys get circumcised at around age of 10 or 12.

Somehow they created this age of 12

as the proper age for boys to be circumcised.

(people cheering)

(applause)

- I don't remember who exactly said it, but

they said it would make it bigger

after the surgery, and at that time,

I was pretty naive, so I wasn't sure why that was a benefit,

but I do remember distinctly that that was

brought up to me by someone.

It's almost like the military service here,

it's something that everyone has to do.

Of course you don't want to do it, and you know

there is a lot of pain in store for you,

but you just do it, because everyone else does it,

and you don't give that much thought into it,

and it's much better that way, because

the more you think about it, the more fear

you're going to generate in yourself.

- [Voiceover] Understanding the reasons why circumcision

has persisted in South Korea is difficult.

Whether it symbolizes a rite of passage to manhood

or an exclusive mark of modernity,

or whether it's just a meaningless arbitrary tradition

being carried on, is hard to say.

Much like Japan, Korean culture is rife with manifestations

of phallic symbolism.

On the coast, four hours east of Seoul, is this place:

Haesindang Park, built in honor of an old legend.

- [Voiceover] The earliest purpose of circumcision

may have been something similar;

an offering given from the body,

perhaps in place of human sacrifice.

But the reasons why it is practiced today are varied,

as we've seen, from the religious, to the medical,

to less definable cultural reasons.

It has remained a part of the human story

for thousands of years.

No film about the penis would be complete

without touching on the subject of our last chapter.

The question of size has been one for the ages.

But the answer hasn't always been the same.

For the ancient Greeks, a small penis

was considered to be aesthetically superior,

and even their mightiest gods

are a little less than god-like

below the waist.

Depictions of large, erect phalluses

were reserved for base, barbaric creatures,

like these satyrs, whose incessant drinking and dancing

represented a sinful lifestyle.

But things have certainly changed a lot since then.

Each year, the luminaries and lackeys of the adult industry

come to Las Vegas for the Adult Entertainment Expo.

No industry has been more central in enshrining

the over-sized penis in the American pantheon of obsessions.

- I feel like in porn size does matter,

just because you're shooting at angles

that you want to be able to catch the penetration.

- If you have a very small dick,

you can't come off of the pussy enough

for everybody to be able to see what's happening.

- Well, most male performers

are between seven and 10 inches, I've noticed.

I've, I don't think I've worked with anyone below seven.

- [Voiceover] The average penis length amongst

the general populace is between five and six inches erect.

For male porn stars, it's something closer to eight.

- It's a problem made up by our culture and our media,

especially in America,

with sexuality and everything having to be big, big, big,

to be good, good, good, you know?

That's just how it is.

- Size matters in the business,

I would say size

wouldn't necessarily matter in a personal relationship,

if he knew what he was doing.

(laughing)

- Average, I love it, I don't want to be hurt,

I want to be able to go for a long period of time

without ripping. (laughing)

So, men, don't worry about your penis size.

- Like, I'm not, by any means, a size queen,

I get enough big dick at work,

you know, but, you know, I like,

I like a nice penis attached to a nice man.

- [Voiceover] But regardless of what these porn stars say,

or what any women say, for that matter,

the obsession with size remains ubiquitous amongst men.

Just a quick visit to one's e-mail junk folder

reveals a host of pills, pumps, and procedures

that claim to increase penis size,

and with it, they promise a life-changing boost

of confidence.

But for those of us who aren't porn stars,

what's life really like being "hung like a horse"?

We met with a New Yorker who has

a thing or two to say on the subject.

Jonah Falcon, contrary to what you might think

when you hear his name, is not a porn star.

But he does have a 14 inch penis.

* It's true I've got a big one

* It's the biggest one around

* If you're lucky I can show it off

* And you can go to town

* It looks so huge

* That giant bulge in you

- The reactions that I get

from people who see me in bike shorts,

if they don't know who I am, the one question

is always, is that real.

And I say, well, there's one way to show you

that it's real,

and they either accept it or not.

I mean, I will whip it out on occasion,

just to show, yeah, it's real.

If someone is really cute, I'll let them

reach in and grab it to make sure it's real.

You know, feeling is believing,

you know, feeling is believing.

A lot of men derive confidence

from their size if they're large,

for me, I don't have the confidence

because I have insecurities in other places,

so, if it's not one thing, it's the other, basically.

The penis is not the magic bullet.

You're just trading one insecurity for another,

in my opinion.

What's funny is no one's recognized me,

despite,

you know, the camera and stuff like that.

Well, maybe I'm not wearing tight enough jeans.

Or at least...

You can imagine what would happen

if you asked me to wear the bike shorts here.

* You know, my name is Jonah and I've got a giant boner

* all the ladies and the guys seem to want

* I caught you looking and you're peepin'

* And you're trying to be creepin'

* On the bulge that I'm tryin' to flaunt

* Too damn big

* It's just too damn big

* My penis, too damn big

* It's, it's too damn big

- [Voiceover] Meanwhile, on the other side of the spectrum,

and the other side of town,

is this man.

Nicholas Gilronan, the winner

of Brooklyn's first annual Smallest Penis Competition,

held at King's County Bar in Bushwick.

(dance music)

- As soon as I won, they put the crown on me,

one of the girls who worked the event

came up and, I thought she was gonna kiss me on the cheeks,

she went right for the mouth.

That was a lot of fun.

I'm not gonna be confused with Brad Pitt

or anybody like that, but

as my own person, I'm a pretty good-looking person,

not to sound too vain,

the media might want to say I'm not a good-looking person,

because I'm a bit overweight,

or my penis size is not up to par with their standards,

but that doesn't really bother me.

I go through my life, every day is a good day,

my relationships, I've never had a problem with that.

Penis size probably matters to some women,

but just as there are vain men who won't date a girl

who's a little chubby, or too tall, or too short,

or whatever their reasons they have for judging a person

based on their appearance,

there are definitely women out there

who do the exact same thing.

Personality is much more important

than body physique, figure, penis size, body shape,

all that stuff.

Personality is always the most important thing

in any relationship.

- [Voiceover] Unfortunately, not all less-endowed men

can adopt Nicholas's "live and let live" attitude.

Here, in San Diego, our central protagonist

in this "story of size" is taking

matters into his own hands.

- My name is Michael Chavez,

I am 47 years old,

I have a daughter who's 24 years old,

and I've always been single,

I have never been married.

(motorcycle revving)

I am actually proceeding with a penis augmentation surgery

and looking to increase the length and

circumference of my penis.

I dated a girl when I was in my 30s,

and she actually left me due to the fact that

she flat out told me she found a guy with a bigger penis.

We went on a couple dates, and then our first

sexual encounter afterwards, she goes,

Michael, I can't do it anymore.

I need somebody with a larger penis.

You know, and I know that I'm not some microscopic

guy out there, but, you know,

some girls just prefer a guy with a larger dick.

Women in general, they say that there's not a problem

with the size of a man's penis, but there really is.

I mean, if they had a chance to have sex with a guy

with a four inch penis as opposed to an eight inch penis,

they're going to jump up on that eight inch penis

all day long before that four inch penis.

- [Voiceover] Michael is joined in his desire

for enlargement surgery by his twin brother Joe.

(men laughing)

- Probably like, about, I was 27, 30,

is when I really felt that it was just,

it just felt, just, I don't know.

To be honest with you, my girl was kind of

cheating on me a lot, so, it just made me feel insecure

about myself, that, you know, maybe something

needs to change with me, because, you know,

she wouldn't be going off and cheating on me

and stuff like that.

- I mean, it wasn't until recently that, you know,

I got him to actually go, okay, let's see the size of yours,

and we compared the size of each other's penises,

and we're both pretty much the same.

So the standing joke is, you know, if I do meet a girl,

I say that my brother has the other half of my penis.

- I've never, like, seen you as a person

that was really, like, insecure or anything like that,

and it was like, you know, but I mean,

I guess everyone has the same kind of insecurities.

- I'd have to say that I'm not insecure,

I would just love to have a little bit more down there.

- That's true, yeah, yeah, maybe it's not

insecure, but, you know, it's...

- I just saw Mike's wiener, and it's pretty little.

(laughing)

I did. Let's show 'em again on camera, Mike.

- You'll see it too. (laughing)

- As soon as I told Joe that I was gonna get it done,

I immediately went and called my daughter and said,

hey, can I talk to you when you get off work today,

and we went for a walk together.

- Some ladies want boob jobs, some ladies want lip jobs,

or whatever, you know, too many wrinkles

and they want to take care of those,

and this is something that's bugged me for many years,

so now I have that opportunity to do it, so,

I'm just gonna go for it.

So...

- Well that's cool, I'm happy for you.

- Thank you. I love you.

- I love you too.

- This'll be fine.

So, you don't have to be scared or anything.

It's going to go fast.

- [Voiceover] After extensive research,

the twins sought out Dr. James Ellist of Beverly Hills

to perform the surgery.

Dr. Ellist offers his own exclusive patented procedure that,

for Michael and Joe, offers benefits not attainable

through other techniques.

After an initial consultation,

the twins head to Los Angeles for Michael's surgery.

Before proceeding, Michael is carefully measured

and photographed.

- Okay.

- All right.

- I'm going to measure from the...

Three and a quarter.

All the measurements are in the flaccid.

- This is one of the sample of subcutaneous penile implant,

very, very soft silicon, it bends easily,

this is something, you know, which has been,

I think, built, in the mankind, in their mind,

that, always, if you have more is better.

Which is, most of the time, we know, and we see,

is not true, but that's the desire.

That's the personal desire.

That's the man's desire.

(laughing)

- Holy shit.

- I have no hair. Why do I even need this?

- This is the consent that say that

the procedure you're having is the insertion

of subcutaneous penile implant,

you can sign, if you want you can read it first,

and then sign and put the date.

- Okay, I understand.

- Having a twin, I get to say, you first,

and, you know, that's good,

I can see the process and see how it goes, and,

it's kind of good.

I got to see all these things ahead of time.

- So now I'm gonna go under?

- In a few minutes, yes.

Are you ready?

Okay, that's good that you're ready.

(heart monitor beeping)

(glove snapping)

- Originally he was here,

and now,

he is here.

- [Nurse] There you go.

More here, more here, more here, more here.

Come on, one more time here.

- [Dr. Ellist] Michael? How are you doing?

Are you awake?

(indistinct muttering)

- [Dr. Ellist] We're going to the recovery room, Michael.

Take a deep breath, Michael. Everything is fine.

(upbeat music)

- [Voiceover] Months later, the pain has subsided,

but Michael is experiencing some complications.

- It's been about four months now

since I've had the surgery with Dr. Ellist,

and, unfortunately, now I'm dealing with an infection.

Here, this is what's going on since the infection.

- All right.

- So, this was a lot more swollen,

and now it's kind of gone down a little bit...

- Now the doctors say it's gonna go back to normal?

- Yeah, it should just take a little bit of more time,

but it kind of just looks funky right now.

- Okay, I'm gonna have to check it out

every few days and make sure it's good.

(chuckling)

- I know that the doctor did a good job with me,

I know that the implant was done properly in itself,

but for me, personally, I'm still on the,

I'm really on the fence about this, I really am.

Well, I thought that I would be able to

make myself feel better if women were to see

my bigger penis, but now that I have a bigger penis,

could I have gone without the operation?

Absolutely.

Was I perfect the way that I was before?

Absolutely.

I had a nice looking penis before, it was just smaller.

That's really what it comes down to.

And that really probably hits home more than anything

that I've done right now, it's like,

I was perfect before.

- [Voiceover] As filming ended, Michael's infection

had cleared up, and he was feeling better

about the look and feel of his penis.

Not one to be left behind, his brother Joe

planned to follow suit and get the procedure, too.

As surgical methods advance, it seems the demand

for penile enhancement will only continue to grow,

and surgeons in the field imagine a future

where they are as common and plentiful as breast implants.

From ancient Greece to Los Angeles,

the question of size has been definitively

answered for our age.

Bigger is better.

To prove that the desire for a bigger penis

isn't just an American phenomenon,

we end our story in Dubai,

where another set of twins are

bringing penile surgery to the east.

(water running)

Doctor's Maurizio and Roberto Viel,

Italian born maestros of penile augmentation,

bring a decidedly artistic flair to their pursuit.

- Our mother was an opera singer,

used to go to the Scala Opera House

to see all the opera, so...

- That was something good for us, because

it gave us the idea, especially our mother,

of very focus on beauty and aesthetic and art,

so it gave us since a young age,

now we do something in surgery that reflect what

basically has been our family...

- Yeah, what we do in aesthetic plastic surgery

and cosmetic surgery is an artistic world,

and we try now to change the body, to sculpture the body,

to make the body look better,

and at the same time give a better life to the patient.

- I think that the greatest artist of all is Leonardo.

Leonardo, Leonardo da Vinci, probably, in my opinion,

is my hero, my best.

His description of anatomy, his drawings of anatomy,

is an example of beauty, proportion, harmony,

the willingness to understand it, to study, to see,

and something that even it was centuries ago, but

we should have this kind of desire to look,

to understand why.

- [Voiceover] Just as Leonardo da Vinci illustrated

with his Vitruvian Man,

the penis sits at the center of man's universe.

It is his link through the generations,

the family jewels,

his most dear and valuable treasure,

affectionately nicknamed Johnson, Willy,

Jimmy, or John Thomas.

It's also known as a baby-maker,

the purple-headed monster, skin flute,

chode, ding-dong, the albino cave dweller,

custard-launcher, beefwhistle, wiener, monkeywrench,

wedding tackle, trouser tumor, whoopie stick,

yogurt gun, todger, tinker, tallywhacker, shaft,

schmekel, schwanz, pecker, one-eyed trouser snake,

old fellow, python of love, meat injection, lap rocket,

knob, joystick, member, longfellow, excalibur,

the bald butler, bishop, tree of life, the pudding pump,

crotch-vomiter, wrinkle beast, dork, donut-holder,

pied piper, pecker, love muscle, dipstick, Dr. Feelgood,

the duke, and dick.