Whether or not penis size matters, it is a major source of anxiety among men. In Unhung Hero , Patrick Moote explores his own insecurity — and whether or not he can grow what nature gave him.
Patrick Moote dresses up to interview people about penis size at Bay to Breakers.
Brennan Maxwell/Breaking Glass Pictures
For most men, having a smaller-than-average penis is cause for embarrassment. For Patrick Moote, it was inspiration.
To be clear, Moote wasn't always comfortable talking about his relative shortcomings. But as the subject of the documentary Unhung Hero, now in select theaters for a limited release, he's had to put it all out there emotionally — for better or worse.
"I think weighing the pros and cons for me is happening more now that it's all finished and I'm looking at it, and being like, 'Oh my God, was this a good idea, or was this just a crazy, insane thing to do?'" he told BuzzFeed. "I think if we'd been weighing the pros and cons a lot in the beginning, I would have bailed."
In person, Moote retains some of the neurotic charm he exhibits on screen — it's what one expects from someone who does stand-up comedy. But he's also more visibly secure than he is in Unhung Hero, perhaps owing to so much candid discussion of something he once kept under wraps.
Film or no film, the question of penis size was not something Moote could avoid. The writer-comedian had already earned some notoriety when his 2011 basketball game proposal was rejected: video of Moote's then-girlfriend turning him down went viral, giving Moote the kind of temporary internet celebrity no one wants. Her reason for not marrying Moote: His penis wasn't big enough for her.
Moote breaks it down for his audience.
Brennan Maxwell/Breaking Glass Pictures
"It's really rare that people get into a situation like mine where someone is like, 'Yes, your penis is a little too small,'" Moote noted. "But why are we all so insecure about it?"
That's the question Moote hoped to answer along with his friend and Unhung Hero's director Brian Spitz. Together, the duo traveled around the world to uncover different cultural standards for penis size, the universal nature of male penis anxiety, and whether medical science can offer a solution to men dissatisfied by what biology has given them.
At the same time, Moote saw doctors about his specific issue, at which point he learned that he's just slightly below average for a man of his height, weight, and ethnicity. He also tried various penis enlargement products and techniques, none of which had any significant impact on his size. It's worth noting that Moote never actually discloses what that size is.
"I've measured my penis at this point about a thousand times and it fluctuates," he said. "Obviously you're not doing it when it's at its smallest, but even when it's at its largest, there's still a quarter or an eighth of an inch of fluctuation depending on how hard I jam the ruler into my abdomen."
More to the point, Moote says that his specific size is irrelevant. Moote and Spitz discussed whether he should go full-frontal in the documentary, but they ultimately decided that reveal took away from what they were trying to say with the film.
"It really wasn't the point, and it almost felt like it went against what the theme of the film was," Moote said. "If we were gonna do that, it would throw the wrong message out there, which is, here it is, judge me, evaluate me, do what you will. When in reality, it doesn't matter."
