Dear Prudence,
I am the middle of three boys and we are all in our 20s. Our
parents separated shortly after my younger brother was born and
eventually they went through a bitter divorce. Recently, my father,
brothers, and I went to a camping-style family wedding together. The
facilities were spartan and we all ended up in a communal shower. I'm
sure this was the first time all four of us were naked together, and it
was certainly the first time I'd seen my younger brother naked since he
was little. In the shower, there was a definite "one of these things is
not like the other" moment. While my older brother, dad, and myself have
fairly similar, if modest, endowments, my younger brother's male parts
were noticeably different (and "better") than ours in almost every way
possible: size, shape, even complexion (!). It was like seeing a great
white whale breaching alongside dolphins. None of us look strikingly
like our parents, but we are clearly brothers, except for this newly
discovered alien appendage on my younger brother. At the reception, my
older brother brought this up to me immediately, and we worked out the
theory that mom had an affair that gave rise to my baby brother, and his
decidedly different genitalia, and the divorce. I don't think full
brothers could have such variation, and the fact that my younger
brother's package is a definite upgrade plays into the theory that maybe
mom was shopping around for a better deal. We'd really like to get to
the bottom of this, but we're not sure how to broach this already
difficult topic with either parent when our only evidence consists of
this sensitive observation.