I think it is always wise to get ethics (/institutional) review board clearance if you have people participating in your experiments and particularly they do not consent in advance. I understand from our own experience that one avoids those boards sometimes, but IHMO one needs to accept criticism if one hasn't done. I hope he would have got clearance anyways. He could have complained I guess if not.

Nevertheless the penis paper proved a point and we use it in our teaching as an example how peer review sometimes "works".