'Penis Shame' Is All in Guys' Heads

[RodEnuf]

Size Doesn't Matter: 'Penis Shame' Is All in Guys' Heads

By Stephanie Pappas, Senior Writer -- LiveScience -- October 04, 2013

 

Has spam promising a larger male member with a pill or a cream ever tempted you to click? Hold off, guys. New research confirms that anxiety about penis size doesn't correlate to what's really in your pants.

 

In fact, plenty of well-endowed men are ashamed of their penises, while lots of men with smaller penises strut their stuff with confidence, according to a study published online September 30 in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

 

The findings are no surprise, said study leader David Veale, a psychiatrist at King's College London.

 

"It's an emotional feeling," Veale said of penis shame. Like other forms of body dissatisfaction, penis-size anxiety is rarely linked to reality, he told LiveScience.

 

Measuring up

Men worry far more than women about penis size, according to Veale and his colleagues. One study, published in April in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that women preferred larger penises only up to a point (anything bigger than a flaccid length of 2.99 inches (7.59 centimeters) did not additionally impress women), and preferences also varied based on a guy's height. A 2012 study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine found similarly ambivalent female preferences. In that study, women who experienced frequent vaginal orgasms were much more likely than other women to express an interest in better-endowed guys. For women who didn't prefer vaginal orgasms, penis size was a far less pressing matter.

 

Nevertheless, men continue to fret over the size of their penises, listing it among their top body concerns along with height and weight, according to a 2008 study in the Journal of Health Psychology. Veale and his colleagues wanted to quantify that anxiety - an important step toward being able to evaluate psychological treatments designed to boost guys' self-image.

 

To do so, the researchers recruited 173 men online and at King's College London, and asked them to complete a battery of questionnaires on body image, erectile function and concerns about their penises. In addition, 46 of the men agreed to have their penises measured by a urologist in both flaccid and erect states.

 

Feeling shame

By comparing the men's answers to the questionnaires to their stated concerns about their genitalia, Veale and his colleagues were able to narrow down their scale to 10 questions that were sure to reveal a guy's inner fears about his penis. The questions, available for download on the King's College London website, measure a man's fear of being alone or rejected because of his penis size, his terror that others will laugh at him, and his anxieties about being naked around women and other men.

 

The most surprising response, Veale said, was men agreeing with the following statement: "Others will be able to see the size or shape of my penis even when I have my trousers on."

 

"That must be extreme self-consciousness," he said.

 

Among the men tested, 30 percent reported dissatisfaction with their genitals. About 35 percent of the men were very happy with their penis size, with the rest falling somewhere in between satisfied and dissatisfied. Older guys and gay or bisexual men were more likely to show high penis anxiety, the researchers reported. Gay or bisexual men typically have more body-image problems than straight men do, the researchers wrote, and also have more opportunities to compare body parts.

 

The penises measured in the study ranged from 2.75 inches to 7 inches (7 to 18 centimeters) long in a flaccid-but-stretched state, and from 3.93 inches to 7.87 inches (10 to 20 cm) when erect. Girth ranged from 2.75 inches to 5.11 inches (7 to 13 cm) when flaccid and from 3.54 inches to 6.69 inches (9 to 17 cm) when erect.

 

(A recent Journal of Sexual Medicine study found that the average American man's penis measures 5.6 inches, or 14.2 cm, long when erect.)

 

The bottom line to all these numbers, however, is that they meant not a whit for men's perceptions of their penis size. Big or small didn't matter as much as the fears men carried in their heads. Some of those fears came from harsh experience, Veale said.

 

"Quite a few of them have been teased about their size either by an ex-partner or in the showers as an adolescent," he said.

 

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

 

[Wutty3]

I wonder if this little tidbit of information will make the main stream media like the last definitive study that says 'size matters' (remember those Australian women looking at CG images of men and those Irish women who need big penises to have vaginal orgasms?). You know what? Screw 'em all. I've learned too late that when it comes to penis size/preference studies, ignorance is bliss. It's all bovine feces. One group of eggheads says it matters, another group of eggheads says it doesn't.

 

Don't worry folks I can almost guarantee that within the next few weeks there will be another headline saying "Sorry guys...it really does matter". Then after a few weeks..."Cheer up guys...it doesn't matter but it kinda does but really not that much...really. So you see guys, I see no value in any of these studies anymore because within a short amount of time some other egghead organization is going to debunk the last study and it's going to go on and on ad infinitum.

 

My normally open mind is hereby officially CLOSED on penis size/preference studies because my brain almost fell out dammit!!!

 

[Guest]

Studies in general are just not accurate and not empirical. Even meta studies are not accurate. In 2013 we get thrown so much crap with the label of "science".

[Wutty3]

A-freaking-men brother!!!

[Jonny5]

Interesting information, but I agree with Wutty that all of these studies are pointless. We can't change what we have, so it's up to us to make peace with what we have. Easier said than done, but no research will change that.

[Fighting Blindly]

Interesting information, but I agree with Wutty that all of these studies are pointless. We can't change what we have, so it's up to us to make peace with what we have. Easier said than done, but no research will change that.

 

 

A-freaking-men brother!!

[Exergrow]

Well, you can change your earlobe size, through tension. Or your penis size, through tension based exercise. I mean I was desperate enough to try, I am wired that way. The same old ruler I have measured with since I was fifteen, which never came close to six, really, now shows me about seven. Everyday is like Christmas for me. Because of my hard work with manual penis exercises. (Which are prescribed by doctors for "post-operative therapy" after enlargement surgery. You are supposed to stick with these exercises. It is actually the surgery that is unnecessary.) Sigh. I guess tissue only changes upon a doctor's orders. Oh well. Proceed with caution, but control your own body, I say! Happy gains, brave seekers!

[xsoldier]

New here as of today. Well just like us and avg sizing, women's va jay jays are of different sizes. As any man that has had more than one woman in their life can attest to there is a difference in feel. After a bit of arousal it will increase as well. Like us they expand with blood.

 

Women also have different sized breasts from one another. Why wouldn't the vaginas? So I know that it isn't something to worry about if I don't fill the void perfectly. And oh I consider this to be a sign of just how good a relationship I have and take it as such. This wife of 13 years admitted that MAYBE one to two inches more would be nice. BUT that my girth is plenty and she is happy with the size. Some days that increase in size would hurt. We have a toy collection for the both of us to use as enhancements and I will say that on some days she can easily handle 8 solid inches and on others only a toy of 5-6 inches will work without some pain.

 

My first wife by no fault of her own was one that once she was excited could easily and I mean EASILY get a 10 inch dildo in. I found her secret toy. It was in the late 80's and she had one of my old tube socks in the back of her drawer... IT was stretched. I pulled it out and it was like one of those John Holmes dildos. I let her know I found and she was afraid of hurting my feelings. I would take care of her with that sometimes. But she found MANY people bigger on her own and hence she is an ex wife lol!

 

Size matters but there are work-arounds for everything! It matters to guys that say women are loose. I have heard that so many times from friends in the past. Now we know we all have different sizes. Depends mostly on attitude and what we are willing to do for another to please them.