Gourds as Penis Sheaths: Protective Wear a Cultural Norm for New Guineans

Quick, look in the mirror. Does the penis shield get you blushing a little? Embarrassed or excited? It is funny how wide the variety of responses from this piece of primitive clothing draws from us. We have a culture, like most cultures in the world, where full coverage of our bodies is a must. Most of us could not imagine being caught in our underwear, let alone hanging out in the open. It really is hard to imagine how a culture can even become comfortable with a piece of garb like the penis shield gourd.

Also known as the penis sheath or the Phallocrypt, the penis shield gourd is a lagenaria gourd like the many others I have written about, and it received its name from the tribes in New Guinea that actually wear these as a piece of clothing. It is exactly what its name implies. It is not known for sure how this gourd variety got to New Guinea, they could have floated there by ocean currents if they arrived pre-Colombian, or it is questioned if they may have been introduced by man after the time of Columbus. Personally, I don't see how one of these can be comfortable at all, the inside of gourds once they have dried and hardened, become very hard and somewhat coarse, but perhaps they have a way of smoothing out the roughness.

The penis shield or penis sheath gourd is obviously something you will not find in the Wal-Mart mens wear section, however they can be found at various gourd farms around the country. Here in America these fine gourds are purchased and used for art and craft projects. They may be cut and glued to other gourds for use as a bird head, a leg, or they may be cut open and used as a wall vase, but it isn't likely your going to see a man walking down the street in America wearing one of these phallocrypts as his ensemble, but if you do, I would suggest avoiding him.

Gourds are an artistic medium. If you would like to learn more about gourds, please visit The Gourd Reserve, with over 800 pages of gourd related information and artwork. You can also find more short articles on gourds and growing gourds here on my AC producer page.

Waynes World
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/psgourd1.htm

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koteka