Despite an arguably cultural anxiety around penis size, new research suggests that so-called "penis anxiety" may be all in men's heads, as it does not correlate to size, Livescience reports. Well-endowed men are just as likely to suffer from shame as "smaller" men are to feel confident about theirs.
Published online Sept. 30 in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, the findings from researchers at King's College London were not surprised by their results, deeming the body dissatisfaction "an emotional feeling" that is rarely linked to reality, study leader David Veale told LiveScience.
Veale and his colleagues believe that men worry far too much about their size. A study published in April, for instance, suggested that women preferred larger penises "up to a point," and found that many were generally not impressed by anything exceedingly large (over 7.59 cm at flacid length). Preferences also varied for woman based on a man's height.
Another study published in 2012 in the Journal of Sexual Medicine found that women who experienced frequent vaginal orgasms were more likely to express an interest in more well-endowed men, while for those that didn't prefer vaginal orgasms, size was not as important a matter.
King's College researchers recruited 173 male participants, asking them to complete a variety of questionnaires on their body image, penis concerns and erectile functions. Forty-six percent of participants agreed to have their penises meausred by a urologist when they were both flaccid and erect.
According to Veale, the most common anxiety for men was others being able to see the shape and size of their penis even when their pants were on.
"That must be extreme self-consciousness," he said.
Thirty percent of the male participants reported dissatisfaction with their penises, while 35 percent were reportedly "very happy" with their size, the rest falling somewhere in between satisfied and dissatisfied. Older men and gay or bisexual men were more likely to have higher penis anxiety, as the researchers wore that gay and bisexual men typically experience more body image problems than their straight counterparts.
"Quite a few of them have been teased about their size either by an ex-partner or in the showers as an adolescent," said Veale.
Overall, no matter what the size of their penises, the men studied had varying levels of anxiety and discomfort around their genitals. A recent study published in the same journal found that the average size of an American man is 5.6 inches when erect, though this statistic seems to have little effect on how men see themselves.
