Well, the one thing, apparently. This is really old news, but I feel there has been a lot of misunderstanding about the problems that Peter’s shadowed genitals cause. People think it’s a double standard, since afterall, we get half-shot and shilouettes of bare breasts in mainstream youth oriented comics and have for decades.

But this is not the case. The reason that there is a danger of showing Parker’s boy bits is quite simple. First, we all know that the majority of comic book readers are men. And one thing you women need to understand is that we men walk a very precarious sexual identity tightrope.

The very sight of a penis not our own? Could send us spiralling out of our safe heterosexual identities. We could suddenly find ourselves going GAY. It could totally undermine our hetero-ness, even if it is in shadows and a drawing on paper. In fact, that is why I do not have a copy of the offending image on my blog here. And this is why comics are filled with scantily clad overly endowed female characters. It is a public service!

I am even a bit worried that merely talking about it could adversely impact male readers. So here is an Adam Hughes drawing:

And Fank Cho:

And there, I have done my part to keep the heterosexual male reader on their heterosexual track for the time being. *Whew* It was close for a minute there.