Shifts in attitude around the word "penis" in writing are fascinating to me because it's an oddball case of a word becoming more formal over time. As recently as the late 20th Century, "penis" was regarded as sufficiently obscene that even some medical texts would skirt delicately around it, favouring terms like "phallus" or "male member", and it was a frequent sight in published erotica. These days, it's acquired such a clinical air that calling a penis a penis in porn can come off as painfully formal. Given the timing of that transition, I'm half-wondering whether the Internet going public had anything to do with it – and if so, I'm keen to see if other penis words will follow suit. Who knows? In another thirty years, the word "cock" may be regarded as fit only for medical kink!
so basically, hodie penis non est in obscenis?
