I was thinking about this the other day and speculated to myself that there’s a tie-in to prosperity gospel beliefs. This theology used to be somewhat heretical among evangelicals, who after all are rooted historically in predestination and dour Calvinism, but over the past few decades it’s become more mainstream.

The idea is that if you have favor in God’s eyes, he (always male, of course) will bless you with material wealth and good health. It’s no accident that the biggest prosperity gospel preachers make big shows of their money, to include private planes and luxurious vacations, as they show off toned, physically fit, sexy male bodies.

God loves them, so he made them rich and beautiful. And he will you too if you follow their teachings!

I can see how a man who sincerely believes in prosperity gospel would worry about his penis size. A small penis would probably be a sign that he’s not in God’s favor.

Or to put it another way, he’s not up near the top of that old dominance hierarchy. Better pray more to scramble higher up the pyramid.