Actor Lionel Barrymore portraying Grigori Rasputin, 1932 (AP)
Before (or possibly after) nineteenth-century Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin was poisoned, shot, rolled in a carpet, and thrown in a river, some say that his murderers severed and preserved his penis. Among those claiming dubious propriety over the revered organ is the collection of Dr. Igor Knayazkin in a museum of erotica in St. Petersburg. Whoever it once belonged to, the piece attracts its share of gawkers and conversation not just because of its mythic background, but because it's a solid twelve inches.
Today's penises are not beyond the reach of the quantified self movement. For all the subtleties of modern relationships, all the outlets people have to connect creatively and intellectually and live deeply, the noble charities we espouse or profess to, humans really do care about the size of their/others' sex organs. We count calories, steps, friendships, VO2 maxes; in a way it makes more sense now than ever that we should measure and compare our genitals to put understand our self worth in definite, quantifiable terms.
Even though a man can do no more change the size of his penis than he can the size of his cranium or color of his eyes, it does matter to many women (and men) as a biological and cultural imperative (among many).
This week researchers led by Dr. Debby Herbenick with the storied Kinsey Institute at Indiana University's Center for Sexual Health Promotion published an academic article that claims to offer the most accurate data yet on human penis sizes, as they vary by age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. The most interesting part of their article in Journal of Sexual Medicine is the explanation of why these sorts of studies are done, touching on the gender issues raised.
Numerous studies of penile dimensions have been conducted and various rationales have been presented for such studies (e.g., related to clinical and/or surgical interventions, to understand the potential effect of prenatal influences on sexual orientations and various bodily dimensions, to present data for a specific nationality of men). However, given the disproportionately high number of studies of penis size to the relatively small number of studies of vaginal and/or vulvar dimensions it is also perhaps the case that penile dimensions have simply captured more of the public's attention -- as well as that of (mostly male) scientists who have published scientific research related to penile dimensions.
Certainly it is easier to measure a penis than it is to measure the vagina and such ease of measurement may, in part, account for the differential number of reports (it does not account for the strikingly few studies of vulvar dimensions, however). Yet we would be remiss not to mention that a greater understanding of female genitals is warranted and that, given the consistency in findings related to penile dimensions, it is perhaps time to turn greater attention to the study and understanding of female genital dimensions in future research or other aspects of either male or female genitalia.
The findings, though, not even interesting. I don't even care about it. I guess it is sort of interesting that of the 1,661 erect penises that men self-measured in the study (with incentive not to lie), the largest by a significant margin was 10.2 inches. Only 35 were longer than 7.5 inches. The average was 5.2 inches long, and 4.8 inches around. Also penises seem to get longer with age, and the racial and ethnic differences were negligible, and the sizes seemed to vary based on the manner in which the erection was obtained. Also, when asked if anyone else was present during the measurement, most people were alone and some said their sexual partner was present, but 16 people said they did it with "a friend." Okay, actually I could go on.
The point is that now we have numbers to which we can compare ourselves or our lovers (or friends), so we can know if we should be satisfied or listless. Once science figures out the best way to measure vaginas, if everyone will just be open about their measurements, it will be easy for, say, Match.com to pair people who are a good fit. Everything will make so much sense.
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