LOS ANGELES—The Shameless Sex podcast is receiving an enormous amount of listener feedback in response to its Self-Pleasure 30-Day Challenge to support Masturbation May 2019.
But April Lampert and Amy Baldwin, moderators of the popular weekly podcast that celebrates sexuality in all its forms, were not prepared for the forms of feedback they’ve seen over the past two weeks, saying they’ve been overwhelmed with “an unusual amount of dick pics” on their Instagram feed.
“We don’t want to be hard on our male audience, pardon the pun, but apparently we underestimated that a number of folks would interpret this Self-Pleasure Challenge as an opportunity to send us photos of them touching their genitals,” Baldwin said. “It's interesting to note that they are all from penis owners.”
While the contest has been receiving plenty of positive participant feedback, Baldwin says “our instructions clearly ask for an anonymous photo holding a sign in front of the face, and in no way did we ask for actual action shots or videos … we've received both.”
Baldwin and Lampert have discussed the "dick pic" phenomenon during their Shameless Sex podcasts, and refer to Dr. Justin Lehmiller’s theory that most guys use the strategy hoping it leads to sex while some do it to shock and offend for their own pleasure and excitement. In any case, the hosts are asking fans to refrain from sharing such photos with them.
“We are lovingly reminding people that we are not asking for pictures of genitals… we are neither shaming nor validating (and obviously not having sex) with anyone who sends us a dick pic,” Baldwin said. “Instead, they are instantly blocked.”
With two more weeks of the challenge to go, Baldwin is also “lovingly reminding our Instagram followers to respect our boundaries and relearn what consent means by keeping their genitals to themselves… non-solicited dick pics are the Internet's version of a flasher, and flashing without permission is a consent issue.”
To join the Self-Pleasure 30-Day Challenge, visit the Shameless Sex Instagram page @shamelesssexpodcast.
To learn more, visit ShamelessSex.com or follow Shameless Sex on Instagram @shamelesssexpodcast, Twitter at @shameless_sex and Facebook at Shameless Sex Podcast.
