ABSTRACT
Continuing on from the analysis in the previous chapter of the problematic construction of vaginal penetration as central to sexual ‘normality’ and ‘health’, this chapter examines how the focus on penetration, and particularly the penis, is central to rape discourses within psychology and psychiatry. I analyse the use of phallometrics in research, forensic, and therapeutic settings; that is, the measurement of changes in the penis to assess for sexual arousal. I trace its history from harmful behaviourist reparative therapies with gay men and gender nonconforming people, to its current use to assess for coercive and marginalised sexualities in sexual research and forensic contexts. I analyse phallometric discourse in relation to the construction of sexuality and rape, as well as how the procedure of measuring penile responses is troubling when issues of consent and sexual abuse are considered. I conclude that framing sexuality and rape as solely embodied in the human penis not only reifies problematic gender binaries of embodiment but also silences men survivors of sexual violence.
