The How’s and Why’s of Penis Size

The almost freakish male obsession with penis size is a thing of both great wonder and great amusement, especially seeing as more often than not, most women don’t really seem to care enough about the differences in men to actually complain about their partner’s size down below, at least not to their sex therapists; on a whole, women don’t seem too concerned with size, especially when contrasted with the seemingly ubiquitous male interest and often insecurity over how they size up in the grand scheme of things. This story simply cannot emphasize enough: the majority of women report that they don’t particularly care and choose to focus on arguably more meaningful traits like humor, intelligence, integrity, as well as some physical traits.

Certainly within the bounds of normalcy, any penis can and will do in giving women sexual pleasure. Now that’s not to say that there aren’t going to be some hiccups for some pairs of people along the way, but for the most part, any penis can suffice to give immense physical pleasure. That said, what could be considered “normal?”

Speaking in Averages

A study at King’s College in London with a sample size that was quite massive, boasting an impressive 15,521 men analyzed, found that the average penis length was 5.2 inches when erect, and 3.6 inches when soft, and measuring 3.7 inches around when flaccid, growing to 4.6 inches when erect.

So what can be considered a safe guide as a normal range might not be as big as most people think. Ninety percent of men fall between the range of 4 inches while erect, on the lower end of average, and 6.2 inches while erect, on the upper end of the average. That’s a lot of hype for a few measly inches or fractions of an inch, guys…

Only about 5% of men were above 6.2 inches while erect, while another 5% or so were below 4 inches in length while erect. In other words, penises are largely all about the same size with a few outliers.

Male Fantasy

Many have suggested, probably rightly so, that the size fascination is born out of male fantasies and pornographic programming — that is, we’ve been somehow convinced by pornographic media and good old urban legend that size = an increase in sexual pleasure on the behalf of the woman involved, and thus guys want it so they can feel masculine; nothing could be more erroneous and the truth is much more nuanced. Porn isn’t reality, guys.

The fact is, certain people fit better with certain other people — various sizes make various positions more pleasurable, both sizes of bodies and sizes of penises and vaginae. Some men are tall, some men are short, some men are too tall for entry from the rear to be comfortable or even feasible, others are too short for entry from the rear to be comfortable or even feasible, and this is dependent upon the size of their partner, of course.

The fact is, we don’t really know how our sexual parts will fit (and feel) with another until we actually try, at which point we know the deal, so worrying about the size of the penis is a bit of a fruitless endeavor.

Many women actually prefer a smaller penis to a larger one, and there’s nothing wrong with that at all — it’s all about personal preference and comfort, and for every one member, there are literally billions of people out there who prefer that type, so it’s definitely nothing to fret about. Every Jack has his Jane, or every Jane her Jane, or every Jack his Jack, and so forth. The point is, there’s someone out there who’s comfortable with whichever size you are.

It should be noted that one position may feel great for a certain pair, while another position isn’t so good when contrasted with another person. The position greatly effects the angles, and the concentration of nerve endings and sensitive spots in various people are such that different sizes and angles please us differently, but all of them are generally good; the possibilities are as various as there are people and there are no cut and dried solutions, so it’s the best to work with what you have and find what works best with your partner.

I’m personally much more concerned with my emotional connection with my significant other, that which builds attraction and tension which is released in the bedroom.

Illusions

Science has shown that there is some bias afoot in regards to the preconceived notions we have about penis size and pleasure and that actually varies by country. These notions have to do with the perception of what’s ideal.

A study conducted with thousands of people across various nations asked what they thought the average penis size was. Women reported, on average, that they believed the average penis size to be 5.4 inches, and men reported, on average, that they believed the average penis size to be 5.5 inches, only a tiny fraction of an inch away from the actual average of 5.2 inches.

Now here’s where things got complicated — things always get complicated, don’t they? Participants were also asked what they thought the ideal size for a penis was, and they invariably reported a size quite larger than both the actual average and what they themselves had reported they thought the average penis size was. Researchers then cross-referenced the results by country, so in the United States, surveyors responded that they believed the ideal penis size was about 6.5 inches, even though they responded that they believed the actual average penis size to be only about 5.5 inches.

This means that people perceived the ideal to be a full inch above what they believed to be the average in the United States, and both numbers were actually larger than the actual average.

Penis Health

Yes, you read that right. What’s more important is, sadly, often much more neglected, and that’s penis health. There are things that men can do to slightly increase the overall increase the length that doesn’t have to do with dangerous pills or even more dangerous surgery, and that’s to increase the overall health of the penis.

Getting a good amount of exercise can increase arterial health and thus increase the blood flow to the male member, increasing the size slightly, but also increasing the firmness and density of the unit.
For guys who smoke or drink heavily, this effects your circulatory health which can have negative consequences on your wang — it’s recommended that to increase your penis health, you may want to consider quitting smoking and at least cutting back on drinking.
Calmness is an important factor in regulating blood flow, as a stressed nervous system is one in “fight or flight” mode and is actually redirecting blood (which could be going to your member) to the extremities of the body just in case you have to fight off a bear — this is what our bodies are designed to do when they’re stressed because for most of human history, this is what stress meant. Taking up meditation or even daydreaming a bit can relieve stress, depression, and anxiety, causing a healthier penis.
Temperature plays a roll as well in blood flow and can play a roll in the restriction of that flow, resulting in a less-than-impressive member, something we’ve all heard a joke about at one point in our lives, no doubt. Warmer temperatures increase size when it’s time to do the dirty and can effect the overall performance of the penis.

I personally think we should shift focus, as a whole, to penis health and concerns that have to do with out it relates to the overall body through the circulatory system — and anxious mind and stressed body leads to poorer health over all, which has been pretty well documented in the scientific literature, and this includes penile health. I’d venture to say that a small and working penis would be preferable to a large, non-working penis, so our overall penile health should be considered way more important than something as abstract as size.

Cultural Freaks

Our penile obsession has grown out of our consumerist culture and seeming freakish obsession with the idea that bigger is somehow better. In ancient Rome and Greece, men with large penises were seen as an object of mockery, regardless of what their fertility statues looked like. Aside from unusually large members, it just wasn’t that big of a deal.

A brief look at the more lifelike art throughout the ages won’t yield you a catalog of porno penises, but rather what we (weirdly) view today through the lens of our culture as “small” and unimpressive. This is a testament to the vast power of the porno industry and our materialistic culture.

Research at UCLA and California State University in Los Angeles concluded that 84% of women reported being completely satisfied with their partner’s penis size. Again, women simply don’t care about it as much as men.

The same research asked men what they thought about their own penis size, and women what they thought about their partner’s penis size. The results were impressive.

Most men thought they were average and most women concurred. However, women weren’t nearly as likely to consider their partner’s penis to be small as men were likely to consider their own penis as small, but women were more likely to consider their partner’s penis large than men were.

In other words, dudes were more likely to think they were small and women were more likely to think their partners were large. It’s all about perception, and when we take the numbers out of the equation and just focus on those perceptions, women tended to view their partners as what our society would call “favorably” and men tended to view themselves as what our society would call “unfavorably.” I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from here.

In the end, human beings are individuals, and there are a lot more traits that I think we should be focusing on in our partners, like maturity, honesty, loyalty, as well as what we individually find attractive in a partner, rather than what society tries to tell us through the vast and perpetual ambush of advertising is supposedly beautiful and desirable.

Every person should be comfortable with themselves and rest assured that there is definitely someone out there who can appreciate them for them, and with a little diligence and a strive to be the best version of ourselves that we can be, we can meet, attract, be with that person.