Although NBC regularly mentioned or pointed out the partners/husbands/wives/boyfriends/girlfriends of Olympic athletes (and in one instance, described a love triangle among European swimmers), they failed to point out the same-sex partner of a gold medal winning diver Matthew Mitcham. Though at first NBC defended its choice, it seems that they have since issued an apology.

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As I posted yesterday, a lot of people are curious about 23 year old Michael Phelps’ penis. Maybe it’s because of the media attention around how Speedo apparently seems to have airbrushed his penis out of promo photos. Or maybe it is because NBC has described - in much detail - Michael Phelps’ large shoe size (size 14!) and hand size (like paddles!) making people wonder whether the rest of his body is as large. It’s unclear how he feels about this kind of attention - on one hand it must be quite flattering, and he certainly takes opportunities to pose for various magazine covers, etc. On the other hand, I’d guess it must feel a bit awkward or demeaning. The guy is a stellar athlete, has shown enormous commitment and perserverance to train, and yet people want to know about his genitals.

Hmmm…. so shall we shift the focus for a moment to a science-y look?

As in, what can we learn from this cultural obsession with Phelps’ gentials? Well, scientific research suggestst hat penis size is not well predicted by the size of one’s feet, hands or nose, as some myths suggest. You can’t even tell the size of a man’s erect penis just by looking at the size of his flaccid penis, as some men are "showers" (they gain little length when they become erect) and others are "growers" (gaining more length when they become erect). So while people may be curious about Phelps’ penis because his body looks attractive to them, the size of the rest of him isn’t much of an indicator about his genitals. And anyway, size is only one aspect of penile size - technique matters quite a lot to sexual satisfaction, as does relationship quality (well, at least in cases where there is a relationship to speak of).

But back to Phelps.

Though there are actually a ton more key word searches that brought people to MSP in the lasy day or two, there are only so many that I can re-type, so here are some highlights from the past day:

-154 searched "michael phelps penis"
- 44 "phelps penis"
- 29 "michael phelps penis size"
- 17 "michael phelps sexuality"
- 11 "michael phelps sex"
- 10 "michael phelps" and "penis"
- 10 "michael phelps’ penis"
- 7 "phelps penis size"
- 6 "michael phelps dick size"
- 5 "michael phelps cock size"
- 3 "phelps penis"
- 3 "mike phelps penis size"
- 2 "michael phelps + penis"
- 2 michael phelps, penis size
- 2 phelps’ penis
- 1 "a picture of michael phelps penis" (really????)
- 1 "michael phelps body dick"
- 1 michael phelps cock outline
- 1 "michael phelps pennis" (it’s penis with one n!!!)
- 1 michael phelps size 14 penis (um, it’s size 14 shoe - not penis)
- 1 michael phelps swimsuit penis
- 1 phelps cock size
- 1 phelps has a small penis
- 1 sex with michael phelps
- 1 what is michael phelps dick size

………….. and on and on.

[Above photo via this site.]

 (Above image via this site).

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Yesterday I wrote about the issue of an outline of Michael Phelps’ penis showing through his Speedo suit and how it appears that his penis was airbrushed out of promo ads of him in his suit. Remember?

Well, it turns out that we here at MSP are not the only ones interested in Phelps’ penis. Yesterday evening alone, people visited MySexProfessor.com purely as a result of searching for various Phelps/penis related terms and then hitting upon MSP. Specifically, last night alone:

- 21 people found MySexProfessor.com as a result of searching for "michael phelps penis"
- 9 got here thanks to a search for "michael phelps penis size"
- 8 for "naked olympians"
- 7 for "michael phelps sexuality"
- 7 by way of searching "phelps penis"
- 5 arrived at MSP after searching "michael phelps cock size"
- 3 found us after searching "michael phelps sex"
- 3 via "phelps penis size"
- 2 via "michael phelps" and "penis"
- 2 arrived at MSP a la "mike phelps penis size"
- 1 "michael phelps" and "penis size"
- 1 "michael phelps" and "oral sex" (I am NOT making this up!!!)
- 1 "michael phelps dick size"
- 1 "michael phelps dick size?" (gotta love the question mark they put at the end)
- 1 "michael phelps std" (seriously??? do they really think the internet is going to list whether someone has an std/sti???)
- 1 "michael phelps’ penis"
- 1 "michael phelps, sex"
- 1 "michael phelps: sexuality"
- 1 "phelps cock size"
- 1 "sex michael phelps"

NOTE: This does not include all the people who searched terms like "michael phelps chest size" or "michael phelps body" or "michael phelps anatomy".

[Image via this site.]

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Michael Phelps isn’t the only Olympian that Americans are lusting after. People are also interested in gymnast Alicia Sacramone according to this article - at least almost as much as for Phelps (who has also maxed out his Facebook friends) . You can find a gallery of images of Alicia on the NBC Olympics site, if you’re interested.

Oh, and earlier I mentioned how many calories it was claimed that Phelps burns in a typical workout. Well, check out the calories he supposedly consumes as well as the enormous amount of food - it’s described here.

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 The image below (that I grabbed from this site) is one that is often used to illustrate Phelps’ body proportions. However, I wonder if he finds it awkward to have his penis on display like that, or if he’s used to it by now? Certainly most of us will never have a similar experience of having one’s genitals displayed publicly, even if just in outline form. Just curious.

In fact, I was so curious about the extent to which anyone else was discussing the penis that is the elephant in the room, that I took my curiosity to Google. I found that others are discussing the penis issue in several places including a satire on men’s swimsuits, the Get Outdoors site, this somewhat older article that compares Phelps’ penis to a vaccuum hose, and even a thread on Facebook titled "does michael phelps have a penis?" But the real Michael Phelps obsession includes saucy posts on this blog. Who knew this young man could inspire so many fantasies?

Oh, and super funny, is how Phelps’ penis is apparently not okay in ads - check out this comparison showing how his penis was airbrushed out of promo images! Why so afraid of genitals, Corporate America? I would think that more guys than not would want their swimsuit to at least make it clear that they still have genitals, rather than wear a swimsuit that makes it looks like they were castrated. Shouldn’t we promote the fact that swimsuits still allow humans to have human bodies? Like how women prefer to have breasts when they wear sports bras, rather than to have "uniboob" or a flattened chest altogether.

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.

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I love stuff like this. NBC has broken down the anatomy of Michael Phelps and how everything from his wingspan to his foot size to the proportions of his legs and torso give him a competitive edge in swimming. See the video here. According to them, a typical workout for Phelps burns about 4000 (!) - yes, FOUR THOUSAND - calories. Consider that next time you finish your 300 calorie workout on the treadmill!

Some time ago, NBC sports did a similar breakdown of Lance Armstrong’s body - check it out here if you’re interested.

On a sex note… Of course, when it comes to sex, it is not so much about an individual person’s body as it is about the fit and interaction of TWO bodies. When women and men ask me questions about penis size, vaginal size, breast size, etc., so much has to do with what you plan on doing with your parts and who you plan on doing them with. A penis that feels small or averge to one person may feel huge to another. The same thing is true with vaginas (the inside part) and vulvas (the outside parts of women’s genitals).

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Courtesy of the LA Times.

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At least that is what NBC’s Dan Hicks had to say. See more here.

Go, Michael, go. And I hope all you take my forthcoming Phelps-related Time Out Chicago comments in good humor (you’ll see - the column I’m referring to will be out in 2 or 3 weeks at timeoutchicago.com)

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I mean, come on. Since when have so many people scoured the internet for information about Powerade? 

Thanks to an ingenious advertising campaign in the UK, Powerade is getting notice if not for its sports drinks, then for the naked Olympians who are hawking them. Since most of us don’t see bodies like these in our mirrors, why not in ad campaigns? Or for those of us - like me - who live in the USA where we are apparently unusually skittish about naked human bodies, then at least we can view them on the internet.

You can read more here (at the Daily Mail) and here (at Gawker, where Sheila is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers thanks to her attention to sexuality-related issues).

(Thanks to Michael for the tip).

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Oh my! Chromosomal testing for "suspected males" posing as female… possible genital/gyn exams… and more. It’s that time again, when the Olympics brings sex and gender issues under intense scrutiny. You can read the full New York Times article here.

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