Professor speaks out after shutting down penis size study amid backlash

Just days after a Missouri State professor gained attention for her planned study comparing behavior, self-esteem and penis size, she shut the project down citing a backlash that would "threaten the reliability" of the data.

Now that professor, Alicia Walker, has written a piece describing the days after her study hit the internet. She describes hateful messages and inaccurate portrayals of her work.

Walker penned an essay for "Feminist Reflections" on the website The Society Pages.

She describes frustration over national websites that missed the point, included incorrect information or used "click bait" headlines.

While she received many emails in support, there was also plenty of hate mail.

"Each hater sent multiple emails," she wrote. "The first message came from a Michigan man (he went to my academia.edu page, which provided his location) — he opened his email by calling me a 'feral whore.'” He sent 30 emails in total, each with similarly abusive language. He called me a 'fat pig,' or some variation, in most of those emails. He even claimed that I was 'so fat only N—–s would' have sex with me. The racism of misogyny was common."

Walker describes more of the abuse she received, but continues to make the case for the importance of her study.

"There is ample data demonstrating that for many men who perceive their penises are small, self-esteem is indeed an issue," she wrote. "How our bodies look and how we see them impacts how we feel about ourselves, and this is an important social and psychological issue. My study could have contributed to this existing body of knowledge that takes men’s bodies and feelings seriously, and it could have perhaps helped to shift methodology for penis size studies."

Walker described the process and goal of the study to a News-Leader reporter last month.

She said the project looks at how penis size — and, as importantly, a man's perception of his penis size — affects overall health, sexual activity, condom usage, self image, social interaction and mental health.

"So far I'm hearing a lot of anxiety and a lot of low self-esteem related to size," she said.

As part of the study, Walker had hoped at least 3,600 men — from outside the Ozarks — would fill out an online survey and upload photos of their genitalia. The participants were required to be age 22 or older.

"These are not sexy pictures," she said. "These are clinical pictures."

She said photos were necessary to ensure men carefully follow the instructions when measuring their flaccid and erect penis.

Missouri State initially confirmed Walker was conducting the study in a statement: "Academic freedom is a core component of a liberal arts university. As such, faculty members have broad discretion in their research choices. When students, staff and/or faculty conduct research at Missouri State University that involves human participants, they are required to submit an application to the Institutional Review Board."

The university stated Walker met the board's threshold for a research project. "It is a legitimate area of research and she is conforming to all of the guidelines of participant security."

Missouri State added the study was not funded by the university or any governmental institute. The university also released the news that the study was ending.

The university said that "all submissions were stored in a secure research database" and that "none of the photographic submissions or survey responses have been or will be viewed. They have already been destroyed."

WPXI