Have people's tolerance for "grossness" decreased to a ridiculous extent?

Tonight, I was in class watching a film by experimental filmmaker Kenneth Anger and there came a moment where a glimpse of an erection was shown. A fellow classmate would continually scream out his distaste of this out loud. Even louder later on when a character lit a bottle rocket where his crotch should be.

This brings up an interesting question. First off, this classmate is a MAN. I've never understood why men get so grossed out by seeing penises on film (or, for that matter, why women get grossed out by seeing vaginas on film). Don't you see one every day? You know...the one that's connected to you.

In any case, why do people get so grossed out by things that really aren't that gross to begin with. What's the deal?

But it's not gross!

The gays are just...gay.
Penises are yucky.

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Has he never seen an episdoe of Jackass? Those guys are pullin' their junk out every chance they get. None of the other guys say eww.

Wait, someone in a film class had that reaction?
I suggest the switch to a Bachelor of Science.

Also, a penis is probably the least shocking thing in a film by K. Anger.

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Sometimes...I think people express their disapproval (as they call it) because they feel awkward and uncomfortable watching something intimate with a group of people they may or may not know well. They feel as though they HAVE to make a sound to fill the awkwardness.

Or he's just gay.

Regarding the topic title "Have people's tolerance for 'grossness' decreased to a ridiculous extent?", I would have to say in general it's the other way around. Your example about the guy's reaction to the penis has been a common reaction from immature straight men for probably 50 years, so I don't really see it as a "decrease", but I have noticed there has been a slight increase in the number of heterosexual men who have become more confident in their sexuality and more tolerant to homosexual men over the last 20 years. Remember the Metrosexual Movement?

With regards to "grossness", tolerance levels for explicit violence in films increases every decade. Generally speaking, I think tolerance has gone up, not down.

I think the comment about the Kenneth Anger had less to do with grossness and more to do with immaturity and ego. People who say stuff like that in a class usually are seeking attention or trying to prove something. It's either the class clown tactic or the bully behavior or a combination of the two. Let it go.

And I've seen Fireworks. I thought it was kind of silly.

PS - Some people actually are grossed out by genitalia. Even their own. It's especially common among transgendered individuals. Perhaps your classmate is actually pre-operative lesbian. Ask him.

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If he's old enough to be in a film class that shows a film with an erect penis, then he's old enough to know how to behave like a mature adult.

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So he doesn't get it in the eye.

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I think Mister Matt, Anna and lovely are all right.


maybe he was going for a laugh--that's what I would be doing if they showed a vag in a class I was in--of course the scarier prospect is being in the classroom at all.