Why the Penis Is Overhyped and Underrated

For as long as I can remember, I believed that a man couldn’t be a man without a penis.

Evan is in his mid-thirties when his transition begins. In the chaos of forging a new masculinity, the question arises about what penises mean to him — for his body, for his sense of self. For what was, what is, and what could be. In society and in bed. It’s about the weight and the projections tied to this body part, about shame and fantasy, power and vulnerability.

Personally, Politically, and Analytically

To seek answers, he talks with people — with and without penises. Conversations about fears and labels, about cultural history and its significance, about sexuality, size, and fantasies. The encounters open spaces where physical and social boundaries can be pushed beyond. Does this yield a new perspective on masculinity? Or does it reveal how fixed the ideas are that politically and sexually bound the body?

“Sind Penisse real?” is an attempt not only to pose these questions theoretically but to inscribe them into personal experience. Here, sexual desire meets rigid norms, literature and theory, faith and lived experience, centuries-old gender concepts and radical openness. It is an essay that doesn’t merely explain but searches for answers that are tactile, tangible, and sometimes uncomfortable — personal, political, and analytical all at once. The book is now published by Piper Verlag in Munich as a 128-page hardcover for €20, as well as an e-book for €16.99 (Amazon Affiliate Link).

Evan Hugo Tepest lives as a writer in Berlin. In 2024 his first novel “Write the Name of Your Mother” appeared, and in 2023 the essay collection “Power Bottom.” His writings have also appeared in anthologies and magazines.