Ubiñas: Check out the cojones on these fine ladies

IN A NUTSHELL, this column is about penises.

But hang on, there's a reason for it and for Philly resident Alex Millard's front-and-center Kickstarter campaign to get fellow women to draw that body part.

Long story short: The idea is to reverse the usual eyeballing of women by men and turn the woman's eye on a world that is, shall we say, phallic-dominated. There is a serious, perhaps therapeutic purpose to it.

"Almost every person on the planet has encountered the penis in its real or figurative form, consensually or nonconsensually," says Millard, a freelance writer. "Penises and their various manifestations dominate our architecture, slang and organizational structures."

What, you thought the gentleman's agreement that for years kept any other building in Philly from rising above Billy Penn was for other reasons besides making sure "his" was bigger than "theirs"?

The seed of the "Women Draw Penises" campaign was planted when Minal Hajratwala, a Facebook friend from India, brought up the widely popular Kickstarter project "Gay Men Draw Vaginas." That project capitalized on the idea that people have no clue what lady bits look like. The results will soon be turned into a book of vaginas drawn by gay men.

"We were thinking about how penises are absolutely everywhere by contrast and how it might be nice for us to portray a non-male-centric view of penises," Millard said. "Not what media portrays, not what men portray. But what our experience has been as non-males."

The idea is to set on its head the male tendency to objectify women's bodies.

The group had some laughs sharing funny pictures of penises as superheroes, as cartoon characters and gender-bending drag queens. But soon enough, the conversation took a serious turn.

"Drawing penises can be a really hilarious experience, but I also think it can be therapeutic," Millard said. "And I think there are people who have had penises pushed upon them and to be able to say I control this and what this looks like is definitely a place of power."

Millard and Hajratwala worked together on the campaign urging women (and those who identify as women) to draw penises and submit their drawings along with six-word stories of their penile encounters.

Levels of support included "The Climax," for people who pledge $25 or more, "No Shame in Paying For It," for people who pledge $200 and up and the "Put a Ring on It" level for those who pledge $1,000 or more.

They started with a modest goal - just $200. Enough to make a statement and a digital book, if they were lucky.

But then the project took on a life of its own, and they stretched their goal to $4,000 in hopes of creating a printed book.

In the meantime, Millard's email is overflowing with penile portraits that range from the silly to the provocative.

Hajratwala submitted one that looks like a prickly cactus. Someone else drew one that looks a lot like Count Dracula, or maybe a bat? A Hello Kitty penis is in the works. An envious gay male friend has asked if he could ghost draw a penis.

Millard's is a one-eyed cowboy with spurs that - no offense - could use a little manscaping.

The inspiration? "I was thinking about how so many times somebody who owns a penis thinks of themselves as a savior," Millard said, laughing, " . . . and how a lot of times people with penises are rounding up women like cows."

So, do her loved ones think she's, um, nuts? Her fiance - who has two degrees in psychology and a secure sense of his manhood - thinks it's funny. So does Millard's mother, who has promised to support her daughter and draw one, too.

"I had a feeling that women had a lot of things to say about how they view penii," Millard said. "I had a feeling we had a lot to say but didn't necessarily have a way of saying it or a forum."

They do now. To submit a penis drawing for consideration, tweet @WomenDrawPenii using the hashtag #penii or email WomenDrawPenii@gmail.com.

Phone: 215-854-5943

On Twitter: @NotesFromHel