Whether you’re a man or a woman, it’s likely you’ve received an unsolicited photo of a penis at one point or another.
These photos, commonly known as ‘d*** pics’ have become a widespread phenomenon, sparking researchers from the University of Pennsylvania to look into why men send them.
In the study, the researchers surveyed 1,087 men about whether they had sent any d*** pics, as well as their motivations behind sending them.
The survey also included questions to rate their levels of various traits, including narcissism, exhibitionism, erotophilia-erotophobia, and sexism.
The results revealed that men were mostly motivated to send genital images due to a ‘transactional mindset.’
In their study, published in The Journal of Sex Research , the researchers, led by Flora Oswald, wrote: “We determined that the most frequently reported motivational category for sending genital images was a transactional mindset (i.e., motivated by hopes of receiving images in return), while the most commonly desired reaction from recipients was that of sexual excitement.”
Delving deeper into the results, the researchers also found key links between certain personality traits and d*** pics.
The researchers explained: “We determined that men who reported having sent unsolicited dick pics demonstrated higher levels of narcissism and endorsed greater ambivalent and hostile sexism than their non-sending counterparts.”
The team now hopes to study the phenomenon further to understand its role in modern society.
The researchers added: “The d*** pic lies at the intersection of the zeitgeists surrounding consent, gender, sexuality, and technology, and further research on the subject could provide insights into myriad contemporary topics such as online sexual harassment, online dating culture, and gender relations.”
