Home>News Center>Life
         
 

Spam e-mail plays on men's little worries
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-02-20 08:58

For many American office workers, the day begins with deleting spam. These days, a lot of electronic junk mail hits below the belt by seeking to profit from many men's deepest fear - that their penises are too small.

From the vague "Expand your horizons" to the blunt "Want to increase your penis size?," the hard sell of penis-enlargement products plays on men's insecurity, experts say.

Virtually anyone with an e-mail address is bombarded daily with messages touting penis pills, herbal supplements and the latest rage, penis patches, all with the same inflated promise that they will enlarge a man's sexual organ.

Herbal supplements marketed as "penis pills", which contain ingredients ranging from soy protein and damiana leaf to ginkgo biloba and ginseng root, and dermal applications like the "penis patch", claim to be capable of lengthening men's penises by up to 4 inches (10 cm) in as many months.

But no peer-reviewed studies comparing men who used the products to a placebo group have ever been conducted. Since the products have disclaimers stating they are not intended to treat medical problems, they fall outside the US regulatory process. The Federal Trade Commission says there is no evidence the products have any effect.

Primal obsession

Psychiatrists say the marketers sending out such messages are hoping to take advantage of a primal obsession.

"The penis is a primary symbol of male sexuality and dominance," said Dr Frank Muscarella, a clinical and evolutionary psychiatrist at Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida.

Muscarella, co-author of "Psychological Perspectives on Human Sexuality", said the size of a man's penis "is indicative of masculinity, prowess and dominance".

"On a psychological level, men buy into that. And even if they don't, advertising does," he added, citing a recent truck billboard that showed a sexy cowboy crouching with a pick-up between his legs.

Muscarella said men tend to focus on the more "concrete" aspects of sexual attributes like shape, form and size. He likened it to the male attraction to, and often obsession with, women's breasts.

An obsession with penis size is not a uniquely American phenomenon, said Virginia Sadock, a psychiatrist at New York University Medical Centre.

"This is not limited to the United States by any means," Sadock said, noting that in Japan there is a condition known as "koro" in which a man suffers from delusions that his penis is actually shrinking back into his stomach.

And Muscarella said that the French are known for trading rumours about men with small penises, often accompanied by jokes and derision.

At the heart of the problem, Sadock said, is that since men don't see many penises other than their own, they have little basis for comparison.

Big is king

Participants complain about a gay community in which men brag about being bigger than they are and a country where big is king. Like at other support groups, most in this group are grateful just to be in a room together with people trying to confront the same problem.

A slim man with reddish hair told a recent meeting that he is made to feel he doesn't measure up. "In our community the idea of what's average (size) is very distorted," he said.

Purveyors of the products insist they have received more than 90 million orders but are notoriously hard to track down or even identify, and typically they refuse to speak to reporters when found.

According to Wired magazine, some 6,000 people ordered pills from Goringly.biz through the Amazing Internet Products Web site over a four-week period, spending on average US$100 each for two bottles. Wired traced the ownership of AIP to a 19-year-old New Hampshire chess whiz, Braden Bournival, who shied away from a reporter for the magazine who approached him at a chess tournament last summer.

Relief from the barrage of spam may yet be in sight however after Congress passed a law aimed at sharply restricting unsolicited e-mail ads.

 
  Today's Top News     Top Life News
 

China puzzled over US filing tax complaint at WTO

 

   
 

Chen, Annette Lu slightly wounded in shooting

 

   
 

Specific reform objectives set for banks

 

   
 

Bush urges allies to stick with united mission

 

   
 

Marriage bells toll in cyber churches

 

   
 

Chinese, French women hold dialogue

 

   
  China on show in song and story
   
  Girl, 14, becomes a mother
   
  Dazzling art works catch collectors' eyes
   
  Liver-transplant patient gives birth
   
  China final of Miss Universe to be held in "Spring City"
   
  Computer game cracked down on for discrediting China's image
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
China blocks 127 spam servers
   
Poll: Spam eats up 10 minutes a day for most
   
Gates gets serious about spam, security
   
Sobig fastest e-mail infection ever
  Feature  
  HK pop star Edison Chen punched by youngsters  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: swag在线播放| 四虎国产永久免费久久| www羞羞动漫网在线观看| 日美韩电影免费看| 亚洲人成网站看在线播放| 波多野结衣免费在线观看| 免费黄在线观看| 美女黄网站人色视频免费| 国产动作大片中文字幕| 69成人免费视频| 在线观看a网站| 一区二区三区无码高清视频| 最近2019免费中文字幕视频三| 亚洲欧洲日产国码AV系列天堂 | 亚洲VA中文字幕无码毛片| 特大巨黑吊av在线播放| 噜噜噜在线视频免费观看| 黑人巨大精品大战白人美女| 国产精品视_精品国产免费| www亚洲精品| 扒开两腿中间缝流白浆在线看 | 好先生app下载轻量版安卓| 中文字幕视频在线播放| 日韩精品中文字幕无码专区 | 亚洲欧洲中文日韩久久av乱码| 精品国产三级a在线观看| 国产乱子伦精品视频| 久久久久久不卡| 国产精品对白刺激久久久| 99久久免费国产精精品| 小鲜肉同性同志videosbest| 丰满少妇又爽又紧又丰满在线观看| 最近中文字幕高清中文字幕无| 亚洲日韩精品无码一区二区三区 | 国模冰冰双人炮gogo| xxxxx野外性xxxx| 成人人观看的免费毛片| 久久99国产精品久久| 日本高清乱码中文字幕| 九九热中文字幕| 柳岩老师好紧好爽再浪一点|