Penis Size - How Do You Measure UP?

So, if you wish to know how big your penis is - just for comparison's sake, of course! - how will you go about measuring it?

First, make sure your penis is at maximum size when you measure the length and girth of your penis. In scientific studies, there are several ways of ensuring this - drug induced erections, for example. One approach that is often used is to look at the stretched flaccid length of the penis. However, stretched flaccid penile length is a very poor predictor of the size of man's erection, and the best way to get the erect length is to lay a measuring tape along the upper surface of the penis. Unfortunately, self-reporting is notoriously prone to exaggeration, and few studies based on self-reporting really tell us much about what size the average penis actually is.

If you would like to measure your penis and you're not going to exaggerate to impress your girlfriend here's how to do it. Penile length is simply from the tip to the base, along the top side of the organ, pressing slightly into your pubic area. Measuring the underside is not as reliable and gives more scope for variation. Penile circumference - also known as girth - is measured around the thickest part of the penile shaft.

Sad to say, any studies which rely on men to work out the size of their own organs tend to be somewhat unreliable - and in any case, those men with smaller penises may well be less likely to measure them accurately.

We know that research on penis size that relies on self-measurement always show the average penis size to be longer and thicker than those where measurement is done by independent experts - i.e. not the man attached to the penis being measured! A study in the September 1996 Journal of Urology reported that average erect length was just over five inches - 5.1 to be exact. And one in the December 2000 International Journal of Impotence Research reported that average erect penis length was a little more, at 13.6 cm (5.35 in).

A well-known study by LifeStyles Condoms during 2001 reported that the average length of the white male penis was 5.9 inches. These figures are more honest than self-measurement surveys where men always seem to have a penis over six inches!. Similar trends are revealed in reports of the circumference of the erect penis. Once again, studies based on self-measurement data usually report thicker sized penises than those where staff have done the measuring. The LifeStyles Condoms survey revealed that the average circumference was one tenth of an inch less than 12.6 cm (5.0 in).

As all men know, the flaccid length of a man's dick is not a sign of the erect length. Smaller penises grow proportionately more if they develop an erection, and the increase in size between men varies very much. A smaller-than-average flaccid penis can grow by as much as six times its flaccid volume, while a large soft penis may only become stiff on erection, with no increase in size at all.

The study referred to above showed that the usual average flaccid length was 8.8 cm (3.5 inches). But of course penis size depends on the temperature at which the measurement takes place. It's hardly surprising to hear that many men (45%, by all accounts) wish they had a bigger penis. Even men who think think their penis is average in size would like a bigger one! Clearly feeling like a powerful man seems to mean having a large penis. There is a major self-esteem issue around penis size, for most men think a larger penis is more masculine or desirable to women.

Another amazing fact: homosexual men apparently have bigger penises than straight men. Gay men measure in at 6.32 inches erect while non-gay men are 5.99 inches in length, according to over 5000 measurements of penises in the Kinsey Report. The straight erect penis circumference is 4.80 inches, compared to 4.95 inches for gay men. Now - why? Do gay men really have bigger cocks?

All these measurements were taken by the men themselves so they may not be reliable. And it seems gay men's self-esteem depends on their perception of their penis size. For many gay men, their penis size represents their sense of self as a man. Of course, we all tend to imagine we are less well off than is the case as far as penis size is concerned, because we don't get a true view of our penis when we look at it from above: this view makes it look shorter than it really is.

Needless to say, there are other studies which have tried to establish connections between penis size and race. There is interesting research which suggest black men have an erection which is on average about half an inch longer than white men, while Oriental men seem to be cheated in the penis size department - their erections are half an inch shorter on average than whites (though there is also evidence that this fits with the Asian women's smaller pussy).

More interesting to most men, perhaps, is what women think of penis size. Do women select sexual partners on the basis of penis size? It seems unlikely. One suspects that while there may be a few women who are highly interested in large dicks, but most women look for a sexual partner who is kind, has a sense of humor, and will make a reliable father. Indeed,, research shows penis size is important for a small number of of women, and many hate large penises. Having said that, Women's Health magazine found that seem to prefer erect width rather than girth.

Nonetheless, if you are a man with a small penis, you won't suffer a life without a lover. All the men we emailed in our research on penis size who had a small penis - and that means men with an erection less than four inches long - had a partner and enjoyed sex with her, or him if they were gay.

Article Source: http://www.rightbiz.com

The author is publisher for Male sexuality and the penis. You can find more articles about the penis and male sexuality at The Penis Website. Both are excellent penis related websites.

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