Reading and conversation | Spätschicht x Schwules Museum
Are Penises Real?
Hugo Tepest
Hugo Tepest © photo: Lee Everett Thieler
As part of Spätschicht x Schwules Museum Hugo Tepest reads from his book Sind Penisse real? [Are Penises Real?] – an essay on transition and self-perception, penises and society. The reading and subsequent discussion will be moderated by Lee Everett Thieler.
“For as long as I can remember, I was convinced that I could not be a man without a penis.” Hugo is in his mid-thirties when he begins his transition. Amid the chaos of his new masculinity, he searches for answers to what penises mean to him – for his body, his self-image, for who he was, who he is and who he can become – in society and in bed. To answer these questions, he speaks with people with and without penises about anxieties and power, about cultural history and its significance, about sexuality, size and fantasies. And he writes with disarming candour about a body part that is so much more than that.
Hugo Tepest is an author living and working in Leipzig. His essay Sind Penisse real? [Are Penises Real?] was published in 2025, preceded by his 2024 novel Schreib den Namen deiner Mutter [Write Your Mother’s Name] and his 2023 essay collection Power Bottom. Tepest’s texts have appeared in anthologies and magazines, most recently in ER: Erotic Review (London) and DANKE – Das Fan-Fiction-Magazin (Basel/Berlin).
Lee Everett Thieler lives in Berlin. He portrays queer people and the trans community, of which he himself is a part. His photographs have been exhibited in Paris, Vienna and Berlin. In 2023, Thieler received the IBB-Preis für Photografie. He moderates queer readings and events.
During the event, photographs and video recordings may be made in which you may be recognisable. By attending, you consent to these recordings being used to communicate the event or exhibition.