The Penis in the Picture: The Throckmorton Sign, Genital Visibility, and Communicative Care in Medical Imaging

Jimmie Manning*

Medical imaging can render intimate anatomy visible even when that anatomy is incidental to the diagnostic purpose of an examination. This review uses the Throckmorton sign as a starting point for examining the communicative implications of incidental genital visibility in medical imaging. Drawing on scholarship concerning intimate physical examination, sexual-health communication, medical visualization, genital body image, patient experiences of imaging, and the ethics of intimate clinical images, I introduce two new provisional concepts. Clinical intimacy translation describes the communicative process through which personally intimate embodiment becomes clinically intelligible, discussable, viewable, and actionable anatomy. Genital salience describes the degree to which genital anatomy acquires or retains personal, relational, sexual, gendered, or identity significance within a clinical encounter or representation. Together, these concepts demonstrate why clinical relevance and personal salience should be treated as independent dimensions. I conclude by identifying communicative practices for addressing incidentally visible intimate anatomy, including anticipating visibility when feasible, normalizing without trivializing, maintaining clinical purpose, and remembering the absent patient. Patient-centered imaging requires attention not only to what medical technologies make visible, but also to what happens communicatively after intimate anatomy becomes visible.

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Published on: Oct 6, 2026 Pages: 1-5

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/2455-8702.000144
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