Sizing Up

Many of my patients have doubts about their penis size, worrying that they’re small as compared to other men.

This anxiety has its roots in the myth that men with larger penises have a stronger sex drive and are capable of greater sexual performances.

Path-breaking studies by pioneering sexologists Masters & Johnson on Human Sexual Response found no relationship whatsoever between penis size and sexual prowess. When a penis is not erect, it averages about three-and-a-half to four-and-a-half inches in length and one inch in diameter.

Apart from penises differing in size from individual to individual, their size can also vary from time to time in the same man. These variations occur because of factors like the weather, anxiety, preoccupation and the context. An erect penis is usually between five and seven inches long, with a diameter of one-and-a-quarter to one-and-a-half inches.

A “small” flaccid penis can show remarkable change in size as it becomes erect, but a “long” flaccid penis changes very little as it gets excited. A man’s weight, build and height bear no relation to the size of his penis either in the limp or hard state.

The belief that a large penis is capable of giving a woman more pleasure is based on the mistaken notion that it is the vagina which is the only source of a woman’s sexual pleasure. The primary source of pleasure in a woman’s genitals is the clitoris and the outer third of the vagina. In other words, it is first two inches, approximately, of the vagina which can give pleasure to a woman. Hence all that a man requires is two inches, and that too after erection.

The writer is a sexologist. Mail him at dr.narayana@ deccanmail.com