In Defense of the Blue Penis

Andrew Sullivan pointed me to this interesting take on Dr. Manhattan's full frontal nudity in Watchmen from Phoebe Connelly of The American Prospect:

I'd like to stand up in defense of superhero Dr. Manhattan's full-frontal blue nudity. The majority of reviews have seen fit to mention it: Anthony Lane, "buff, buck naked, and blue, like a porn star," Roger Ebert, "complete with discreet genitalia," Kenneth Turan, "pale blue and naked (don't ask)," NPR, "As he lacks a spandex suit — or for the most part a suit of any sort — full-frontal shots of him also qualify as blue, come to think of it."

But getting worked up over the blue penis is a failure to notice the rest of the film. A female superhero, Silk Spectre II, is outfitted in a latex body suit with perma-hard nipples, there's a horribly cheesy sex scene set to "Hallelujah," and your overshare problem is the glowing blue penis?

We're comfortable with objectified male bodies when they are a joke, but not when it's merely a part of a character -- the way female nudity, particularly in action films, so often is.

So yes to the blue penis. Let's hope it makes people pause to consider why it's discomfiting to have male nudity displayed, not for laughs, and not part of some art house epic, but just as a side-bit character trait that no one seems to remark on.