In this new doc, men risk everything for a bigger, better package

The manosphere is a crazy place.

One minute, Joe Rogan is telling you that “being masculine is the reason we don’t speak German.”

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The next, some UFC fighter or Barron Tr*mp is selling you an energy drink to make all your chad dreams come true.

The manosphere is full of grifters, but that doesn’t make the dream they’re selling any less potent… or popular. Just ask the wide array of men seeking help from Bill Moore, a Dallas entrepreneur whose product, “phallofill,” promises a girthier, if not lengthier, member guaranteed to boost self-esteem, one hyaluronic acid injection at a time.

Moore’s work, and the surrounding hubbub, are the subject of Daniel Lombroso’s eye-popping documentary Manhood, which premiered this year at SXSW.

“There is something to BDE,” Moore tells us.

Penile growth enhancement isn’t a new concept, but Moore’s method promises a safer alternative to the previous treatments that took off in the post-viagra ’90s. Permanent silicone injections are not only dangerous, but “poison,” as one doctor confirms. Over time, the injected matter solidifies into lumps, a problem David, a gay OF star, must remedy with surgery. He only gets the courage to do so after meeting Moore for treatments, and seemingly entering into a polycule arrangement with Moore and his husband.

If the world of Manhood is populated with colorful gay characters, it’s still mostly straight men who tend to seek out Moore’s help. Ruben, a married father, finds himself in a financial hole after opting for the pricey treatments. Another patient decides on phallofill after receiving a terminal brain cancer diagnosis.

“You lose embarrassment when you’re told you have six months to live,” he says.

Embarrassment is a recurring theme of Manhood, especially when it comes to how much some of these men pay for bigger packages (up to $20,000)!

We know men seek the surgery because of insecurity. But we also know that external factors are only part of the problem.

It’s not the women in these mens’ lives who are pushing their husbands to, ahem, improve down there. It’s about their insecurities with other men.

In one telling moment, Ruben admits to having moments where he feels “like a small person inside.”

One thing we know about men? They want to feel big both inside and out.

But does phallofill actually help? Lombroso leaves it open.

Moore insists that his patients thrive after surgery, finding confidence on dates, going up for promotions at work, and getting a new lease on self-esteem.

But as with the surgery’s results, the mood boost seems temporary. After all, “big” is famously in the eye of the beholder. And for men looking to enhance their parts, it’s all about going bigger.

There never seems to be a point at which any of the men interviewed feel completely satisfied with what they’ve got going on.

That’s the sad part of Manhood, a largely enjoyable peek into the roiling center of male insecurity. For a film that’s so much about masculinity, we learn that these men have a lot in common with the women they keep claiming have it easier.

“It’s all fake,” Ruben says of what he sees in films and adult entertainment. He also claims that men aren’t able to hide their insecurities like women do.

So why is it that all these men reminded me of the women in my life who, like me, have struggled with eating disorders ever since puberty? For those women, being thin has no real endpoint—you could always be thinner, especially in today’s GLP-1-crazed culture. Cosmetic surgery can help people feel better about themselves, but it can’t change the culture that’s constantly telling us we could always be leveling up.

Which, to be clear, is the real problem, and while it has different meaning for different genders, it is very much universal. In a world that’s always telling you that you could be thinner, hotter, bigger, girthier, better, how do you ever know when enough is enough?

Worse, how do you even trust your sense of things? Watching Manhood, I wondered if any of these men were experiencing body dysmorphia, a phenomenon rooted in, but not always specific to, transness that makes you see your body as monstrous because of the way it makes you feel. For people dealing with this problem—which also occurs for people with eating disorders—surgery can’t really help. It’s about learning to see, and accept, your body for what it really is rather than trying to attain a perfection that never existed in the first place.

I have to hand it to Lombroso. His is the rare documentary that doesn’t clue you in to what’s going on behind the camera. Are the filmmakers judging these men? Do they believe what Bill Moore is selling? It’s not clear, and the film is stronger for it. It leaves us to draw our own conclusions, based on the complicated relationship we all have to our own bodies. If any one of us were told that for a price, we could fix everything we hated about ourselves, how many of us would do it? How many of us would then be happy with the body we got?

The answer is unclear. My hope is that Lombroso finds a way to follow up with these men’s stories in a few years. Do they keep getting phallofill? Do more cost-effective options enter the marketplace? Does the work actually help them build a better sense of self in the long term?

Or is the whole thing, like so many other manosphere promises, all smoke and mirrors?

Manhood is now playing in select LA & NYC theaters. You can find information about upcoming festival screenings & more right here.

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