The Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Hall (REC Hall) hosted their first discussion of the semester entitled “Does Size Matter?” on Nov. 5 to talk about whether penis size and sexual performance are linked to race.
Student volunteers Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah, and Lamar McCormack as well as Faisal Ghali, REC Hall’s administrative co-ordinator, posed opening questions to the fluctuating number of 30-40 students in attendance and kept order as the crowd seized quickly onto the meaty topic.
Before the topic was addressed, Owusu-Akyeeah asked the crowd what brought them to the panel. Some students answered that they wanted to learn more the sexualization of black bodies, and others mentioned they came for the pizza. A few women answered that they wanted to know whether size really does matter.
Dorrie Desroves, an attendee at the panel, said she wanted to see the rumours of black men being “large and in charge” addressed.
The panelists then gave the discussion to the audience, where an enthusiastic attendee got the ball rolling with the question, “so, does size matter?”
From there, audience members struggled with competing ideas that eventually converged to conclude that sex is more about “the motion of the ocean” than it is penis size, until it’s “so big it hurts,” as Kedia Martin, another attendee, put it.
The consensus was that how a man’s penis size affects his confidence is more important than his size by itself.
“It matters in terms of your experience and how you feel about it,” said Selali Ayitey-Wallace, a student who went to the discussion.
One male attendee added that when he was in the sixth grade, having a big penis “sounded like the biggest inconvenience,” leaving the audience to grapple with why it is that people think penis size is so important.
Audience members were also eager to discuss why it is that black bodies are over-sexualized.
An example given was that porn featuring black men focuses on their penises, while porn featuring white men focuses on the penis entering the orifice. Audience members also considered how porn rarely features a white male with a black female.
Other related stigmas such as black women being more willing and “freakier” were discussed and condemned.
“I’ve noticed that race is such a big thing when it comes to relationships,” said Naira Fragaso, an attendee, adding it shouldn’t be. Many other audience members agreed.
The conversation turned from there to historical determinants, such as colonial times when white men would colonize black regions and rape the black women, to explain why black bodies are over-sexualized.
“If you’re going to different cultures and different places, certain sizes are preferred,” McCormack added. Panelists discussed how Canada’s racial diversity equates to a diversity in penis size, which has created stigmas around how size relates to sexual performance.
Fragaso brought up how many caucasian girls distinguish themselves as “night-riders” to indicate they prefer sex with black men. “It doesn’t make sense to me,” she said.
Student volunteers ran the event despite the Facebook event that said a film screening would take place.
The talk, which began 25 minutes late and in a different room than it was advertised, ran enthusiastically for an hour and 10 minutes.
Panelists ended the event due to time constraints while the audience was still engaged. REC Hall’s programming co-ordinator, Samantha Odion said the conversation would definitely continue in many parts after the audience left, but the REC Hall would not host another formal panel on the topic.
“Thanks for coming,” she told the audience.
