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Every third man on the planet is unhappy with the size of his penis, and manufacturers of specialized products know how to cash in on this. But is it really so?
The size of the male genital organ has occupied humanity since the beginning of time. Nowadays, this is clearly seen in the abundance of advertising for pills, ointments and devices that supposedly increase the penis. Everyone who has an email address periodically finds suggestions among spam on how to increase it.
Such advertising appeared due to the generally accepted belief: the more it is, the better. This issue is discussed in detail in his book «Penis» by the Norwegian urologist Sturla Pilskog. We publish an excerpt from the chapter «Big — what is it?».
historical ideal
Ancient Greek sculptures depict men with impressive physical data — tall, athletically built owners of bulging and well-defined muscles. At first glance, it can be assumed that the ideas of the Hellenes about the ideal male body coincide with ours.
But if you look closely at the ancient sculptures, you can see one important difference: their genitals are tiny, almost invisible. In sculptures, they are depicted as much smaller than even the average size of the penis. Why was a small penis considered an advantage? The answer to this question we will find in mythology.
The ancient Greeks believed in many gods, spirits, as well as giants and other creatures who actively participated in the earthly life of people. Among the most famous were satyrs — male spirits that lived in the wild and were distinguished by an insatiable sexual appetite.
Satyrs have been described in many ways, but one of the most popular depictions of them is that of a half-man, half-goat with a large, erect penis. Myths endowed them with the qualities of wild creatures, stupidity and deceit, which was the exact opposite of the ideal of a man of that time. Therefore, a small penis was considered a sign that its owner is in control and does not give in to impulsive desires for fleeting pleasure.
normal size
The fact that so many men are unhappy with the size of their penis is due to the fact that they have the wrong idea about the norm. Without a doubt, much of the fault lies with the porn industry. Guys and men watch porn on the Internet, finding it is no problem: one or two keystrokes — and you are welcome, any kind of sex. But you need to remember that in porn films, the outstanding physical characteristics of the participants are more important than acting skills, and comparing yourself with these performers is not a very good idea.
There is another theory that explains why many people underestimate the size of their penis. Children compare themselves to older guys and men in the family and cannot imagine that in the future their penis will also be so big. Many cannot get rid of this feeling of inferiority in adulthood. Apparently, pornography will have to share the blame with the male subconscious.
The average
There are many different studies on penis size. But most of them have a serious drawback: they are based on the results of self-measurements of the respondents. It is easy to assume that only those men who are satisfied with the length of their penis agreed to participate in such surveys. In addition, as it turned out, men like to add 1-2 centimeters to its actual length.
The largest study in which medical personnel took measurements was conducted in 2015 at King’s College London. This pooled analysis included 17 studies from around the world, and a total of 15 men were collected.
As a result, it turned out that the average length of the penis in an excited state is 13,1 cm, in a state of rest — 9,2. Thickness is an equally important characteristic, and the average circumference of an erect penis was 11,6 cm.
Also, scientists have blown to pieces the myth that the size of the penis is somehow related to the size of the legs or the length of the fingers. Shoes of a large size, alas, will not tell anything about how good the male power of its owner is. The only thing that could be established was the ratio of the length of the body and the length of the penis, and even then it was quite insignificant.
By countries and continents
The London study did not give any data on differences in the length of the penis among representatives of different peoples and countries, but such differences undoubtedly exist. This is supported by some earlier research.
Many facts indicate that for the largest penises you have to go to Africa. Congo tops the ranking, where the average length of an erect penis is more than 18 cm. Some Asian countries close the list, where this figure is approximately 10 cm.
True, most of the research in this area is very heterogeneous in quality, so it is not worth drawing too strong conclusions. In Europe, Iceland ranked first with an average penis length of around 15 cm, while southern European countries scored lower at 12–13 cm.
Do not forget that we are talking about average figures, and they, of course, do not reflect the whole variety. Of course, there are many men with relatively small members in the Congo, and in Asia you can find someone who will surprise even Icelanders with his “aggregate”. By the way, Iceland is home to the world’s largest penis museum. It is not known whether there is any connection between the first place of the Icelanders and this cultural institution, but it is definitely worth a visit.
It is not unusual for the average penis size to vary from culture to culture. We are all very different in everything, and it would be strange if our genitals suddenly turned out to be the same in shape and size.
But the fact that the size of the penis can vary depending on sexual orientation is really surprising. Experts say that homosexual men, on average, have larger penises than heterosexual men, and this is confirmed in a scientific study. The difference, however, is small — about half a centimeter. Here, too, one should not rush to far-reaching conclusions: the study was conducted on the basis of American data collected in 1938–1968.
«Rastun» or «pokazun»?
At first glance, it seems that the larger the penis at rest, the larger it will be when erect. However, many studies have disproved this. A large penis in a relaxed state slightly increases during an erection, but a small one, filled with blood, can noticeably add.
From here came the English concepts of shower and grower, which can be translated as «show-off» and «rastun». The work of scientists in 2014 proposed the following definitions: a penis that, in an erect state, adds more than 4 cm, is called a «rastun». Less than four — «showy». According to the same study, three out of four men are “ostentatious.”
Of course, there is a certain logic in such a pattern. If the penis is large and thick at rest, it won’t shrink when erect, but it won’t get much bigger either. But a rather modest size member can really amaze with the size of an erection.
Appearances can be deceiving, as in other areas of life. It turns out that the older a man gets, the more likely it is that he will become a «window dresser». Alas, with age, not only the eyelids, stomach and muscles suffer — the penis is also pulled down by the gravity of the past years.
Is size really that important?
We can discuss the average penis length and its norms for a long time, but the main question is, does size matter? Is it true that having a big penis makes it easier to find a partner? And that the chances of satisfying him are increasing? The answer to both questions is “well-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o.”
Compared to other primates, humans have a fairly large penis. For example, gorillas cannot even compare with us: their penis rarely reaches four centimeters in an erect state. And this is in a mammal that can weigh 200 kg!
Probably, the male part of humanity has such an impressive sexual organ for the reason that for women its size was one of the criteria for choosing a partner. According to Darwin’s theory of natural selection, evolution has gradually favored men with large penises.
This was in those days when we spent most of our lives naked, so that potential partners could immediately assess each other’s parameters.
Now, few people will visually assess the size of the penis before entering into sexual relations. Unless women who receive «dikpiks» (photo of a naked penis. — Approx. ed.) against their will. But polls have shown that such tactics bring dubious results to their senders.
Although it is somewhat more difficult for women these days to estimate the size of a potential partner’s penis, there has been some research done in this area. As a result, it turned out that size does matter, but far from being decisive, as many believe.
One study found that the larger the penis at rest, the more attractive it is to women. But this is true only up to a certain length: once the penis passes the 7,6 cm mark, its attractiveness does not increase, no matter how long it is.
For women, the most important arousal factor was the figure of a man, and his height and penis size showed the same results.
Scientists have figured out women’s preference for a penis at rest, but as we already know, the size of a flaccid penis says little about the size of an erect one.
To find out the priorities of women among erect penises, scientists from California conducted another study in which they used a 3D printer to recreate penises of different lengths and thicknesses — from 10,2 to 21,6 cm in length and with a circumference of 6,6 to 17,7 .XNUMX cm. The results of the surveys showed that women prefer members with an average value and more.
When the respondents were asked to choose the penis they would like to see in their future spouse, the majority preferred 16 cm in length and 12,2 in circumference. As you can see, these figures are not far from the average penis size in our region.
Another interesting finding from this study is that women seeking shorter relationships, such as a one-night stand, would choose a larger penis than the one they would prefer to have with their husband. A hot stallion is good for sprinting, but for long distances a faithful and reliable workhorse is better.
All of these in-depth studies were conducted with heterosexuals, so we do not know about the preferences of representatives of other sexual orientations. Another important research finding is that penis size is far from the first thing women pay attention to. A member is ahead of many other virtues: a sense of humor, intelligence, kindness, body shape and much more.
And perhaps the most important conclusion was that 85 percent of women are satisfied with the size of their partner’s penis. It is not the size that is important, but above all the ability to use it.