Talk:Penis

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This article has been mentioned by multiple media organizations:

Ben Blatt (2014-01-08). "Wikipedia's penis and vagina pages: Their colorful history and popular present". Slate.
Brian VanHooker (6 April 2022). "WHOSE DICK IS THAT ON THE WIKIPEDIA 'PENIS' PAGE?". MEL Magazine.

This topic contains controversial issues, some of which have reached a consensus for approach and neutrality, and some of which may be disputed. Before making any potentially controversial changes to the article, please carefully read the discussion-page dialogue to see if the issue has been raised before, and ensure that your edit meets all of Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Please also ensure you use an accurate and concise edit summary.

So, what is it exactly?

This article goes into great detail about the various eccentricities of animal penises, but there is little actual information on what a penis is. It simply mentions that many, but not all intromittent organs are penises. What is the distinction? Is there a definition? Duckduckgoop (talk) 20:36, 19 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The penis is an intromittent organ for intromission. Nearly all male mammals possess a penis (monotremes are the only known exception), and its presence does not exclusively categorize an organism as a mammal; some birds and reptiles also have one. The evolutionary emergence of the penis dates back hundreds of millions of years to Amniotes, the shared ancestor of mammals, birds, and reptiles.

In mammals, the development of the penis is linked to embryonic cells originating from the tail bud, setting mammalian penises apart from reptilian hemipenes, which arise from embryonic cells associated with limbs.

Not all placental mammals, a subset of Eutheria, possess a multifunctional penis capable of both urine and semen discharge, but all that do are placental mammals. This adaptation originated over a hundred million years within Eutherians, representing the common ancestor of placental mammals and other now-extinct Eutheria.

I agree that the intro is poorly written. Drocj (talk) 06:24, 13 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Reference to page "Genital modification and mutilation"

I believe this page should include a reference to the page Genital modification and mutilation as the page Vagina does too.

The fact that the word "mutilation" isn't even on this page is absurd I think, despite there being a section on "circumcision" which uses a word that I think is not WP:NPOV "genital alteration". Wallby (talk) 13:18, 3 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

To compare, the page Vagina has a whole heading which for the most part is about mutilation.. Vagina#Influence on modification. Wallby (talk) 13:20, 3 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

There is a page Human penis which does include a link to Genital modification and mutilation, however, the See also heading on this page contains several links that are also solely about the human penis and seem less directly relevant than genital moditication and mutilation. Wallby (talk) 12:15, 10 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Better Intro?

currently:

A penis (/ˈpiːnɪs/; pl.: penises or penes) is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males do not bear a penis in every animal species. Furthermore, penises are not necessarily homologous.

The term penis applies to many intromittent organs, but not to all. As an example, the intromittent organ of most Cephalopoda is the hectocotylus, a specialized arm, and male spiders use their pedipalps. Even within the Vertebrata, there are morphological variants with specific terminology, such as hemipenes.

In most species of animals in which there is an organ that might be described as a penis, it has no major function other than intromission, or at least conveying the sperm to the female, but in the placental mammals, the penis bears the distal part of the urethra, which discharges both urine during urination and semen during copulation.

For insert somewhere:

A penis is an intromittent organ found primarily in male animals. It functions as the main sexual organ used for internal fertilization during copulation. While not all male mammals have a penis (e.g., monotremes), it is a defining characteristic of the vast majority. Placental mammals can discharge urine in addition to semen, while the penis is exclusively used for intromission in other animals. Drocj (talk) 06:45, 13 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that this article needs a rewrite: it now consists of a short overview of the subject followed by a long list of trivia about various species. Jarble (talk) 22:19, 2 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There is another discussion here about some recent revisions to this article. Jarble (talk) 02:24, 3 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Possible improvement to introduction/opening?

Shouldn’t the function of the penis to urinate be mentioned immediately after its function as a sex organ as well? Aliy Dawut (talk) 15:49, 20 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Please remove creationist language

Duck's penises aren't "designed". 86.31.178.164 (talk) 14:39, 28 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Done cyclopia ^speak! 10:37, 29 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]