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MARCO TIBERIO – ENLARGE MAGAZINE
Enlarge Magazine is a fictitious and ironic magazine about penis size and enlargement, and as a consequence of that, about toxic masculinity.
Toxic masculinity is the set of socially regressive [male] traits that serve to foster domination, the devaluation of women, homophobia and senseless violence. Phrases like “Real men don’t cry” and “don’t be a sissy” can seriously affect men’s mental health and, no doubt about that, affect affect those around them as well. Thus, men raised in a patriarchal society will identify with the ability to dominate and believe that exercising their power over women is not just an expression of their freedom, but a right.
The imperative “you must be strong”, to which they are educated, pushes men to withdraw into themselves without expressing their feelings. Being “sensitive” is not typically feminine, feeling emotions is human, and hiding and hiding one’s feelings will not make them disappear. Also, because a “strong man” doesn’t ask for help, many silence their psychological problems, which can lead to depression and suicide.
Leaving toxic masculinity behind naturally entails the redefinition of what it means to be a man. Every person should aspire to find a healthy definition of their individuality and work towards this. And in this process, Tiberio believes that insisting on the adoption of cultural models that propose rigid divisions between specific human categories, is a mistake.
A look at history allows us to understand how much the male genital organ has always been associated with the concept of power. For the Greeks, the measurements had to be similar to those of an adolescent athlete, for the size of the penis indicated proximity to divine intelligence. So, the smaller the penis, the closer the man was to divine power. Among the Romans, on the other hand, god Priapus became an object of veneration: a small bearded man with a huge phallus which he used to penetrate men and women became a symbol of strength, sexual instinct and male fertility.
Nowadays, the glorification of the body and of genital organs in particular, inevitably triggers a feeling of inadequacy towards the parameters imposed by society: it is estimated that at least two thirds of men thought their member wasn’t up to standard. Mind, we’re not talking about micropenises, but of all those men who only believe that a bigger penis would make them a better lover. Research has proven the existence of penis size-related anxiety in about five or six out of 10 teens. Less frequent, but not less relevant is also a disabling and functional phobia that leads to the avoidance of sexual activities as a whole. This is because many adolescents explore their sexuality having scant knowledge of the matter, which is often incorrect and inaccurate. Mainstream porn surely played a huge role in this. There is an entire industry playing around and living on the fears of men. There are companies that make tons of money by selling penis pumps, the main tool featured in this work. And penis pumps have been on the market since the 19th century. Luckily, times are changing, a nouvelle vague of porn is helping not only to empower the female body, but also the male counterpart.
And those are the premises which Enlarge Magazine is based on. A visual and highly ironic (erotic?) journey across the devices that supposedly help men become “better lovers”. Here, Tiberio plays with existing photographic styles and narratives to build new ones, which will hopefully teach us something, even though what exactly remains unclear.
The magazine is divided into articles and each of these covers a different topic: from the best water penis pump on the market to Greek statues with small penises, passing through food and FAQs.
All the photographs in the magazine are original (except those on the last page) and all the texts have been downloaded from blogs and dedicated forums (except the editorial). The goal is to learn something about a still largely unknown industry while laughing about fears, insecurities, and also our body. We don’t need to be serious all the time, come on! Sex is better when you laugh and don’t worry too much about it!
