Ajamu says he’s looking to create images he doesn’t get to see himself. A young Muslim who has body confidence issues is encouraged to strike powerful poses inspired by classical Greek sculpture. His shoots often involve juxtapositions: for the portraits in the show, Sam, an erotic performer, drapes his erect penis with flora and fauna. Like the men’s stories, Ajamu’s images are the sort of thing we rarely encounter. Other cultures, in Asia and parts of Africa, have celebrated the penis historically, but there’s something about this country that is still kind of backwards.” We are uncomfortable in this country talking about pleasure of the body. “It’s rare in the mainstream to hear men talk about their bodies and what it means to be male,” he says, when we meet at a photographic studio in London. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The GuardianĪt the heart of Me and My Penis is the artist and “sex activist” Ajamu, who is filmed taking intimate photographs of several of the documentary’s subjects. ‘It’s rare to hear men talk about their bodies’ … artist Ajamu. And one former soldier opens up about losing his legs and sustaining a severe genital injury doing bomb disposal work in Afghanistan. There’s a moving account from a trans man who details the fear he had of female puberty, knowing his body would soon grow breasts he didn’t want. In among the penis chat, we hear from a man in his 40s called Jason who breaks down sobbing while confronting his infertility. Channel 4’s one-off show Me and My Penis aims to break the taboo around the male sex organ and start a frank conversation about masculinity.

If these sound like the sort of stories you don’t often hear on mainstream TV, then that’s the point. ” A third guy, in his 30s, describes his first attempt at masturbation: “I kind of hit it from side to side and it felt nice after a while.” “Is it the rumble of the road on your balls?” he wonders aloud, while another young man in the group says: “I actually think my dick is in control. A former police officer is confessing to being unable to drive without his penis becoming aroused.

Guys playing with their dicks