Provocative Penis Information

Penis size survey

You might wonder if we've covered old ground by having our very own penis size survey. But there seems to be so much interest in penis size, and so little reliable information, that we felt it was a useful exercise. And who knows? It might settle once and for all the age old question - just what is average penis size? So, if you're ready to find out the facts about penis size, then read on.

The survey was conducted in May and June 2003. Responders completed a questionnaire in which they were asked about their sexual orientation, penis size, penis shape and other relevant questions. The results were screened for veracity by deleting all responses which had any anomalies, incomplete answers, or multiple replies from the same ISP. Responses were only accepted from men aged 16 or over.

The instructions given to the men were as follows:

How to measure your non-erect (flaccid) penis:

Measure the length along the top surface from where your penis meets your body to the tip of the glans. Retract - roll back - your foreskin so you can see the glans if you're uncircumcised. Measure the girth around the penis with a piece of string, very carefully, at its thickest point. Then lay the string along a ruler to establish its length.

How to measure your erect penis:

Measure along the upper surface from the very tip of the glans to the place where the top surface of your erect penis meets your body. You will want to measure the length that is exposed for use, as it were, so don't push into the fatty tissue around the base of the shaft. Uncircumcised men can retract their foreskin. If your penis bends up or down, or from side to side when it's erect, lay a piece of string along the surface of the skin and measure the string with a ruler. For the circumference of your penis we require two measurements: 1 Around the biggest part of the head or glans of your penis - this will usually be the rim of the glans 2 And around the thickest part of your penis shaft. Measure both these sizes with a piece of string wrapped around your penis when your penis is at its fullest erection.

Results of the survey

General information (all averages are medians)

By racial grouping:	Whites	Blacks	Asians	Hispanic
% of the total replies coming from each of these groups	78.0	9.7	8.8	3.5
Average age of respondent	25	23	26	20
% of each racial group describing themselves as:
totally heterosexual	69.7	68.3	40.5	48.3
mostly heterosexual	16.0	14.6	25.7	24.1
bisexual	7.4	9.8	18.9	24.2
mostly gay	2.8	4.9	12.2	3.4
totally gay	4.1	2.4	2.7	0
% circumcised	64.5*	68.0	58.1	48.3
Average flaccid penis length (inches) (cm)	3.4 (8.6)	4.1 (10.4)	3.2 (8.1)	3.4 (8.6)
Average flaccid penis girth (inches) (cm)	3.9 (9.9)	4.3 (10.9)	3.9 (9.9)	3.9 (9.9)
Average erect penis length (inches) (cm)	5.9 (15.0)	6.5 (16.5)	5.4 (13.7)	5.9 (15.0)
Average erect penis girth (inches) (cm)	5.0 (12.7)	5.1 (13.0)	4.9 (12.4)	5.0 (12.7)

Circumcision rates

Though the frequency of circumcision is falling, it is still more common in the USA than Europe. Among European males, the percentage of men in the survey who reported being circumcised was only 30% compared to 64.5% of American men. This is across all age groups.

Racial differences in penis size

There's a common belief that blacks have larger penises than whites, and Asians have smaller average sizes than whites.

Well, the results of our survey demonstrate that this legend is absolutely true. As you can see from the data above, on average black men have a penis that is bigger when both flaccid and erect than white men. For these racial groups, the average penis size for black men is over half an inch longer than the average size for white men when both soft and erect. The average girth or circumference of black men's penises when soft is almost half an inch greater than that of whites, although the difference is less noticeable when they are erect.

Asians, by contrast, are half an inch smaller than whites on average when erect, though the differences between the soft penises of the two races are less marked.

Expansion on erection

The average increase in penis length on erection is from 3.4 inches to 5.9 inches - which represents an increase in volume of 180%! (It reminds me of the old joke. Q: "What's an erection?" A: "It's when your blood pressure goes all to cock!")

However, small penises increase in size proportionately much more than large penises. For example, a penis which is less than 2 inches in length when flaccid increases on average to 5.2 inches in length when erect. A penis that is 5 inches or more when flaccid increases on average by only 1.5 inches.

There is a small minority of penises which actually just get hard, and don't increase in length at all: these are usually over 6 inches when flaccid, so there aren't many of them!

For men with a very small flaccid penis

There is a significant number of men with a very small flaccid penis, sometimes so small that it is actually withdrawn into the body and all that is visible is an opening where the penis will emerge as it gets erect. Another variation of this condition is the penis which shows no penile shaft at all when soft, and only the glans is visible. I know from emails I have received that many men are very upset by having a penis like this, but whatever you may feel about this if you happen to be one of these men, the good news is that there is nothing abnormal about the condition. I have spoken to an endocrinologist who tells me that in his professional practice between 1 and 3 % of the men he sees will have a penis that fits into this category, which broadly speaking matches the data received in the penis size survey shown below.

The columns below show the same penis soft and becoming erect

The columns below show the same penis soft and becoming erect

Complete results in detail

With over 1,500 responses, these are the complete results of the survey for the white racial group respondents:

1) Flaccid (soft) penis size

Average penis length when flaccid = 3.4 inches

Average penis girth when flaccid = 3.9 inches

For the mathematically inclined, all the averages above are medians: that is, the point at which 50 % of the sample group is reached. This seems to me a good way of working out average penis size. Taking the mean as the average does not alter the conclusions of this study! The racial differences are still just as visible.

3) Thickest part of the erect penis

It's very obvious from the replies to the penis size survey that the appearance of the erect penis varies greatly between men. Some men have a bulbous glans which is far wider than the shaft when their penis is erect, while others have a small glans that sits perched on the end of their erect shaft like an acorn. The survey did not reveal any factors that correlate with this variation, such as the size of the flaccid penis or the increase in size on erection, so it appears to be just an individual variation. This is how men reported which is the thickest part of their erect penis:

On the rim of the glans - 36.1%

On the shaft near the glans - 16.6%

On the shaft lower down - 28.6%

The same diameter all the way down including the glans - 18.7%