The Long (And Short) Of Your Member

Feeling down about how you get up? You’re not alone.

In 2017, a study published by Men’s Health and the Archives of Sexual Behavior found the obvious: men are really concerned with their junk. However, the study expands on what aspects these men were concerned with the most: the shape of their head, whether or not they were circumcised, and the size and shape of their genital veins. While there were varying degrees of interest from the 4,100 men polled in the study, most men were concerned with the size; 27% of the men took issue with their flaccid member, and 19% took issue with their tented member.

These findings aren’t new; the concept of “bigger and better” plagues the minds of many men, even before the internet, where there are ads promising a 10-inch penis on nearly every porn page. The Big Dick Industry (feel free to call it BDI), though, really gained prominence in the post-Viagra world, and with Viagra’s birth date of 1998, it’s really only been 22 years since we’ve had any advertisements about stronger, longer and harder penises.

Some have taken this rising trend in penis-focused superiority to extremes. In Papua New Guinea, a new surgical trend has been on the uptrend, with an elective procedure that includes (but is not limited to) injecting the penis with silicone or cooking oil to increase flaccid length. And according to an investigation done by The Guardian, the trend has expanded worldwide, with plastic surgeons performing over 45,000 penis enlargement procedures between 2013 and 2017 alone.

Why? It’s simple: fear.

The same Guardian study summates this fear perfectly, stating, “The insidious, eternal fear for a man is that the size of your penis or sexual prowess will be mocked. You can call a man fat, ugly, unfashionable...But for some reason, if you mock the size of the thing he uses to have sex, you belittle what it is to be a man.”

How can you be a man if you aren’t packing heat? It’s a dangerous sentiment. And in the internet age, with so much disinformation, it’s easier and easier for men to self-identify as “tiny.”

Now, will your partner care? Depends on their tastes, but the majority of partners… just don’t care. If anything, women engaging in heterosexual intercourse admit that, when it comes to size, their eyes are bigger than their vaginas. Such is the case for many women who purchase sex toys, particularly dildos; according to Everyday Health, a common reason for sex toy returns comes down to size. When a toy is too big, it requires more lube, and without sufficient lube, there’s going to be a lot of friction. Not great when you’re trying to enjoy sex. A study from the University of California and the University of Mexico backs this sentiment; when given the option between larger and smaller 3d molds of penises, women preferred an average size of 6.4 inches --- significantly smaller than many dildos, which can run longer than ten inches.

Sexual partners aren’t seeking a partner who is packing so much heat that they start a fire, it seems. And the data suggests that more men are dissatisfied with the size of their flaccid member than when they’re erect. 92% of women are not deterred from a relationship with a man who is average or below average; the same sentiment can be seen in relationships between gay men, meaning that a bigger penis does not entirely equate to better sex, but rather it’s how you use it that counts.

So if you’re feeling down about how you get up, maybe consider the false advertising around you. False reporting has led many a man to believe that the average erect penis is around 6 to 7 inches, when in reality, the average erect penis size ranges from 5 to 5.5 inches. The real satisfaction, for both partners, comes from stronger, harder, more consistent erections. That’s when the fun can really begin.