To measure penis length: Place a measuring tape on the top side of the penis, holding the edge of the tape toward the pubic bone and extending it from there to the tip of the head.
To measure penis girth: Simply wrap a measuring tape around the widest point of the shaft.
Alternately, you can achieve the same thing by using a string to get the length and girth. Then, use a ruler on the string to determine the measurements.
2. The average erect penis size is 5.16 inches.
A 2014 study published by the British Journal of Urology International which examined 15,521 men reveals that the average length of an erect penis is 5.16 inches. The average girth (circumference) is 4.6 inches.
3. Only 3 percent of men have a penis measuring more than 8 inches.
85 percent of men have a penis measuring less than 7 inches long. Only 15 percent have penises measuring more than 7 inches long, and only 3 percent measure more than 8 inches.
4. The largest penis measured 13.5 inches.
The largest penis measured 13.5 inches in length and 6.25 inches in girth. By all accounts, including the possessor, he is not any happier than other men.
5. The penis size women prefer varies but not by much.
A 2015 study from the University of California and the University of New Mexico took 75 women, aged between 18 and 65, and presented them with 33 different-sized penis models made of rigid, blue plastic.
The results found that the average preference was for a penis that measured 6.3 inches in length and 4.8 inches around. Whereas for a one-time sexual encounter, the average penis the women chose was larger, measuring 6.4 inches and 5.0 inches in circumference.
6. 1 in 1,000 men have a penis shorter than 2.8 inches.
Penises shorter than 2.8 inches are known as micropenises. According to the Cleveland Clinic, only “0.6 percent of men worldwide have the condition."
In such instances, hormone treatment or surgical reconstruction, known as phalloplasty, may be prescribed.
7. Gay men tend to have bigger penises.
Researchers at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction studied 5,122 men classified as either heterosexual or homosexual.
They found that the majority of homosexual men reported having penises an average of a third of an inch longer than those of heterosexual men.
8. Weight loss may be better than devices or surgery to help with penis size.
Some of the things men use to try to increase penis size include:
- Vacuum penis pumps
- Penis weights
- Penis stretching exercises
- Supplements
- Creams
- Surgery
Experts say that these treatments tend to have modest, if any, results. Most don't do anything at all to increase penis size.
Surgery can be risky, complicated, and painful. It is considered an elective procedure and may not be covered by health insurance.
Some techniques, such as weight loss, may be the better option. Losing excess weight may improve your penis’ appearance and your confidence in bed.
9. There are more circumcisions done in the U.S. than in Europe.
The World Health Organization estimates that the overall male circumcision rate in the states is somewhere between 76 and 92 percent.
Most Western European countries, by contrast, have rates less than 20 percent.
10. Smoking cigarettes can cause a man's penis to shrink.
Smoking might be one of those "masculine” hobbies some guys think makes them look cool, but researchers at Boston University School of Medicine found that smoking cigarettes can shrink a man's penis up to an entire centimeter.
11. There are "show-ers" and "growers."
A “grower” is a man whose phallus expands significantly in length from the flaccid to the erect state; a “show-er” is a man whose phallus does not demonstrate such expansion.
Researchers found that approximately 74 percent of men are show-ers. At least 26 percent of men are growers with a median change in penile length from flaccid to erect state of 1.6 inches.
12. A penis can break.
Technically, a penis can't "break" because it has no bones, but there is a thing called a penile fracture, a rare but dramatic occurrence in which the outer sheath surrounding the erectile cylinders of the penis ruptures under the force of a strong blow to the erect penis or the erect penis is bent suddenly.
The most common cause is during intercourse when the penis slips out of the vagina and is thrust into the pelvic bone.
13. 'Morning wood' is normal.
The actual medical term for morning wood is Nocturnal Penile Tumescence, or NPT for short. Interestingly, this is not caused by sexual stimulation from a steamy dream. NPT is actually very common and completely normal.
It's a result of sleep cycles combined with healthy nerves and blood flow in the body.
NPT tends to happen when a person is in the REM phase of sleep. Since REM can occur multiple times during an 8-hour sleep cycle, a person may have erections several times during the night in their sleep.
Often, a person wakes up at the end of a REM sleep cycle, which explains why NPT seems to happen in the morning and thus where it got its name, "morning wood."
14. There is no correlation between the size of men’s penises and their shoe size.
A 2002 study of 104 men, published in the British Journal of Urology International, found no statistically significant correlation between penis length and shoe size.
A 1993 study compared the height, foot length, and penis length of 63 Canadian men. Researchers noted that the correlation between foot length and penis length is so weak that "foot size would not serve as practical estimators of penis length."
15. The key to predicting a man's penis size might be his fingers.
In a 2011 study, published in the Asian Journal of Andrology, researchers looked at the relationship between the size of the index finger and that of the ring finger in 144 Korean men. They determined that a longer ring finger meant a longer shaft.