Has Penis Lost Its Punch?

Everyday I receive at least ten emails with subject lines that read, "Improve Penis Power!" or some such. Just now I received one of these e-mails and it suddenly occurred to me - I wasn't fazed by it at all.

I don't consider myself a prude or anything, but there was a time when the word Penis or Breasts or, as Monty Python called them, other Naughty Bits, would embarass me just to read them or say them. Its not that I was uncomfortable with the subject matter so much as the fact that I was raised to not use these words in public company. These were words best used by doctors and... ahem... others. Definitely not for casual consumption. (I meant the words, not the object... you perverts!)

But now with these words floating around the Internet and spamverse like flotsam and jetsom after a storm, you can't swing a dead cat without running into breast enlargements, penis enhancements, cheaper viagara, and speed disguised as weight loss drugs. These once giggle inducing words have been reduced to the common.

In language this is called marking language. Certain words are marked as taboo. You know what those words are. Eventually, through time, marked words become unmarked. They enter the mainstream through a combination of use and replacement.

Fifty years ago, I imagine that most people didn't know what an abortion was, let alone talk about it every two to four years as if it was a common every day thing. Now, of course, it is part of our national discourse at election time. So, too, must we expect the idea that someday people will be talking about penis enhancements like tattoo's. "Yeah, Bob, check out my extra four inches." "That's really great. Where'd you get it done?" "Wal-mart. They were having a special."

Perhaps this is why human beings are constantly feeling like the end of the world is near. When things that we grew up with as being taboo find themselves in the mainstream of thought, how can we not feel that the world has changed irrevocably for the worst?

So, this Thanksgiving, I am most thankful for these last few moments of innocense in my life. I like my breasts, penis, and other naughty bits just the way they are, thank you, and I really don't feel the need to change, or discuss it. Some things just ought to remain unspoken.

But certainly not un-blogged about... ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!