POLITICKING & PEEN SHAMING (a historical tradition)
Presidents talking about peens is as American as lighting things on fire in a Chick-fil-A parking lot.
Hi Everyone,
Happy hump day and thanks so much for reading the ADULT SEX ED newsletter! If you were already subscribed to my personal newsletter, I’ve migrated everything related to ADULT SEX ED over here. I’m really excited to write some funny educational deep dives for you all!
This is a weekly newsletter from me, Dani Faith Leonard. It’s an extension of the live comedy show ADULT SEX ED that I’ve hosted since 2018. The show is about plugging the holes in our education as adults, so I’ll be doing just that (if you want to know more about this newsletter, here’s a description on substack).
Ready to get a little smarter? Okay, let’s go!
Dani
PS - this week, I’m posting from NY where I welcomed a new nephew! He’s adorable. I'll be here for the next few weeks. In April, I’m bringing some Adult Sex Ed to Houston, TX, where I’m performing at the Healthy Futures of TX conference. Then, I’ll be on the West Coast!
Presidential Dick Swinging
I was catching up on political news this week. I’ve been a news junkie in the past, but it’s not conducive to getting work done or sleeping well at night.
I’ve been fascinated with the new nicknames that Trump has been testing for his predicted Republican opponent, Ron DeSantis. They’ve honestly been pretty lame–there’s “Meatball Ron,” which I guess is about appearance, but if you have to ask, it’s not that catchy. He’s been stuck on the super clunky “Ron DeSanctimonious.” Trump’s nicknames are frequently size-related and I’m shocked he hasn’t tried “De-shortest,” but according to Bloomberg, he’s workshopping a new one: “Tiny D.”
Shit, he’s a good bully. Tiny D is an obvious comment on height with a pretty great hint at penis size (at least in my mind). Size-shaming isn’t cool, for the record, and preying on common insecurities is generally cowardly. But Donald Trump wouldn’t have been the first to try it.
All the way back at the ADULT SEX ED live show at Caveat in February 2020 (the before times!), I did a little deep dive on dirty sex-related political campaigns. Every American President up until now has had a penis (as far as we know, of course) and an obsession with where that president's peen has been is as American as being gluten free and blowing things up recreationally. If you think insults are bad today, you should know that the election of 1800 was perhaps the dirtiest in history.
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams are two men whose dicks I want to know nothing about, but they felt differently. During the vicious presidential campaign of 1800, it was still inappropriate to campaign on your own behalf, so Jefferson and Adams had their friends do their dirty work.
Jefferson’s friend James Callendar, an influential journalist at the time, accused John Adams of having a “hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.” Where was that song in Hamilton?
Adam’s supporters responded to their guy being called a hermaphrodite by attacking Jefferson’s character and morality. A Connecticut newspaper warned that electing Jefferson would create a nation where “murder, robbery, rape, adultery and incest will openly be taught and practiced.” All of this kind of sounds familiar, right? Adams’ side also hilariously spread a rumor that Jefferson died right before the election.
So, negative politics have always been a part of American elections and it is difficult to imagine a time when that will change. The better question (and the reason I researched this in the first place) is why in the world do these type of insults still make an impact on us? Why are we so obsessed with masculinity as a culture and why do so many people still think that penis presence, size, and function have anything to do with strength?
Talking about an opponents’ privates isn’t only American–it happens in plenty of elections around the world–and it’s especially common in wartime.
No one’s dick (and balls) were talked about more than Hitler. Was it tiny, did it exist at all? Some reports say that he had a very small and deformed penis and that one of his testicles never descended and the other was messed up in the war. Although these rumors have been debated over the years and never completely confirmed, it became a tool for the British Army to boost morale with the popular genital trolling song titled “Hitler has only got one ball.” Ok, I’ll accept this one. No word on whether his pubes were cut into a tiny mustache.
IN THE NEWS
A school in Tallahassee, Florida pressured the principal to resign after an image of the David was shown in an art class. Never mind the fact that it’s the most famous statue in Western history. In response, the Florence museum that houses Michelangelo’s masterpiece statue invited the zealous prudes from the Florida charter school to visit and see him up close - AP News
NEWS FROM 2022 PARTNERS
If you attended the live shows last year at Dynasty Typewriter in LA or Caveat in NYC, then you already have great taste and are armed with more fun facts than you know what to do with. Here’s what our friends are doing:
One of our show partners in 2022 was New York Birth Control Access Project. NYBCAP centers their work on birth control access and focus resources on training reproductive health advocates. These young adults learn, develop, and exercise the skills necessary to advocate for legislation, policy change, and in areas of direct impact. They are hosting a movie brunch in NYC on April 15th. Find out more HERE.
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