Taboos and inhibitions be gone. This article is about the penis. There are several legends and common misconceptions begging for clarification -- especially the issue of whether or not size matters. For both sexes, penis size can raise a few questions: What's normal? What's true? Does it even matter?
Difficult territory
In our dedication to explore the age-old question of what size pleases people, we endeavored to find out University students' preferences and medical professionals' opinions about penis size.
Some girls we spoke to were only afraid of the extremes while others obviously have a little more liking to one end or the other.
"If someone was small, I wouldn't be like, 'We're not having sex,'" first-year College student Christiana Swanson said. "It would just be less fun."
Unless a man is in a relationship with an open partner, often they don't have a clear perception of how a girl views him or if he's adequate.
"Girls don't really give feedback, so a lot of guys don't really know where they stand," first-year Engineering student Mathew McGovern said. "If it's bad -- well, you can't fix it -- and if it's good, that's nice, but what do you do then?"
Former Kinsey Institute Director June Reinisch states in her "Myth-a-Month" video sessions, "In general men are concerned that they are too small."
Cold hard facts
What is the normal penis size, you ask? Well, an absolute normal size is still ambiguous. The Kinsey Institute's "New Report on Sex" indicates the average erect size is somewhere around five to seven inches in length and four to five inches in circumference.
But don't worry about your adequacy if you fall short of this threshold.
"The maximum depth at which female stimulation can occur in the vagina is two inches," according to Ty McNaulty, a member of the Couples Company, a group that offers online relationship advice.
McNaulty added that most men run over the two-inch barrier, putting the extra inches to waste.
"As many women often say, it's not the size, it's how you use it," he wrote on the Couples Company Web site.
Sometimes a larger penis can present a situation that's a little scary for the average girl. Owens stressed that both partners can take some key steps to avoid this scary outcome.
"Spend time on what you might call 'foreplay,'" Dr. Annette Owens of the Charlottesville Wellness Center said. "Taking the time to get aroused is very important. With time and enough stretching, it shouldn't be a problem that can't be overcome."
Most women are designed to give birth, so the capacity to accommodate a larger penis is there -- it just needs to be attended to with a little love and care.
Myths?
The validity of penile folklore has long been debated. Many of these legends deal with the prediction of penis size. One of the most debated of all these myths surrounds black males who, according to legend, have larger penises. This, however, is a farce. According to McNaulty, black men, like men of all ethnicities, come in all shapes and sizes.
Other myths say proportions of one part of the body might affect penis size. One such myth states the size of a man's penis can be determined by examining his shoe size. A study by The Institute of Urology at University College Hospitals in London indicates the rumor is false.
"There was no statistically significant correlation between shoe size and stretched penile length," the study reported.
Another supposed fool-proof indicator is the relative size of a man. It makes sense: big man, big penis. Though it seems logical, this is not a reliable formula. A man who buys his clothes at Big and Tall may be petite under the covers.
In one of her "Myth-a-Month" sessions called "You Can Estimate a Man's Penis Size," Reinisch referred to a 2002 study that measured 63 men in height, shoe and penis size.
"Again, there was no relationship either with height or with shoe size," Reinisch said in a TV appearance.
Insider information
Recently, some condom manufacturers have come to the conclusion that size does matter -- for your safety. Major industries like Trojan and Durex, as well as some smaller brand names, have started to change the "one-size-fits all" mentality for condoms. According to an article by Condomania Chief Executive Officer Adam Glickman, a Durex study showed 44 percent of men have experienced condom malfunction, such as slippage.
Men who are fairly smaller than usual should be careful not to indulge their egos and buy condoms they know will be too big. This can cause all kinds of trouble after intercourse, leaving behind not only the worry of ineffectiveness from slippage, but as Reinisch warns, maybe the whole condom as well.
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