Looks like chessplayers are back in the news again, but of course in a
negative vein. Check this out - our favorite New Hampshire chess guy
is mentioned at the end of this article:

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Spam E-Mail Plays on Men's Deepest Fear
Tue Jan 20, 9:02 AM ET


By Christopher Michaud

NEW YORK (Reuters) - For many American office workers, the day begins
with deleting spam. These days, a lot of electronic junk mail hits
below the belt by seeking to profit from many men's deepest fear --
that their penises are too small.


From the vague "Expand your horizons" to the blunt "Want to increase
your penis size?," the hard sell of penis-enlargement products plays
on men's insecurity, experts say.


Virtually anyone with an e-mail address is bombarded daily with
messages touting penis pills, herbal supplements and the latest rage,
penis patches, all with the same inflated promise that they will
enlarge a man's sexual organ.


Herbal supplements marketed as "penis pills," which contain
ingredients ranging from soy protein and damiana leaf to ginkgo biloba
and ginseng root, and dermal applications like the "penis patch,"
claim to be capable of lengthening men's penises by up to four inches
(10 cm) in as many months.


But no peer-reviewed studies comparing men who used the products to a
placebo group have ever been conducted. Since the products have
disclaimers stating they are not intended to treat medical problems,
they fall outside the U.S. regulatory process. The Federal Trade
Commission says there is no evidence the products have any effect.


Psychiatrists say the marketers sending out such messages are hoping
to take advantage of a primal obsession.


"The penis is a primary symbol of male sexuality and dominance," said
Dr Frank Muscarella, a clinical and evolutionary psychiatrist at Barry
University in Miami Shores, Florida.


Muscarella, co-author of "Psychological Perspectives on Human
Sexuality," said the size of a man's penis "is indicative of
masculinity, prowess and dominance."


"On a psychological level, men buy into that. And even if they don't,
advertising does," he added, citing a recent truck billboard that
showed a sexy cowboy crouching with a pick-up between his legs.


Muscarella said men tend to focus on the more "concrete" aspects of
sexual attributes like shape, form and size. He likened it to the male
attraction to, and often obsession with, women's breasts.


An obsession with penis size is not a uniquely American phenomenon,
said Virginia Sadock, a psychiatrist at New York University Medical
Center.


"This is not limited to the United States by any means," Sadock said,
noting that in Japan there is a condition known as "koro," in which a
man suffers from delusions that his penis is actually shrinking back
into his stomach.


And Muscarella said that the French are known for trading rumors about
men with small penises, often accompanied by jokes and derision.


At the heart of the problem, Sadock said, is that since men don't see
many penises other than their own, they have little basis for
comparison.


The exception, she said, is pornography, which gay men view more that
straight men. And comparing one's penis size to a porn star's could
lead even a well-endowed man to feel inadequate.


So perhaps it's not surprising that New York's gay community self-help
arena has expanded beyond problems such as alcoholism and over eating
to the affliction of a small penis.


"What is Small, Anyway," is the working name of a support group in
Greenwich Village, which acts as a safe haven for gay men who have
small penises, or feel as though they do. Participants complain about
a gay community in which men brag about being bigger than they are and
a country where big is king. Like at other support groups, most in
this group are grateful just to be in a room together with people
trying to confront the same problem.

A slim man with reddish hair told a recent meeting that he is made to
feel he doesn't measure up. "In our community the idea of what's
average (size) is very distorted," he said.

Purveyors of the products insist they have received more than 90
million orders but are notoriously hard to track down or even
identify, and typically they refuse to speak to reporters when found.

According to Wired magazine, some 6,000 people ordered pills from
Goringly.biz through the Amazing Internet Products Web site over a
four-week period, spending on average $100 each for two bottles. Wired
traced the ownership of AIP to a 19-year-old New Hampshire chess whiz,
Braden Bournival, who shied away from a reporter for the magazine who
approached him at a chess tournament last summer.

Relief from the barrage of spam may yet be in sight however after
Congress passed a law aimed at sharply restricting unsolicited e-mail
ads.
==========================================


Of course, no RGCP posters need these pills :-)

- Mike Petersen

"Mike Petersen" wrote in message
om...

Looks like chessplayers are back in the news again, but of course in a
negative vein. Check this out - our favorite New Hampshire chess guy
is mentioned at the end of this article:

-----------
According to Wired magazine, some 6,000 people ordered pills from
Goringly.biz through the Amazing Internet Products Web site over a
four-week period, spending on average $100 each for two bottles. Wired
traced the ownership of AIP to a 19-year-old New Hampshire chess whiz,
Braden Bournival, who shied away from a reporter for the magazine who
approached him at a chess tournament last summer.

==========================================

Of course, no RGCP posters need these pills :-)

No, but now we know who is mining the group for email addresses.

StanB