It seems bonkers that men would be expected to "perform" in front of a crowd. Were they aware how this type of trial would skew results?

I'm thinking specifically of most unlucky Marquis de Langey, René de Cordouan, whose penis went on trial in 1657.

And when the defiant Marquis, after hours of trying, was unable to deliver—in front of a fifteen-person jury comprising five surgeons, five physicians and five matrons—he was quickly and forcefully belittled by his comrades, his name synonymous with flaccidity. Incidentally, though forced to return his wife’s dowry and forbidden to remarry, the not-actually-impotent Marquis did the latter anyway. And his second wife, unaffected by persisting rumors of a hidden, dark disorder, bore seven whole and healthy children.