penis, body-imageIs there any empirical evidence that justifies the anxiety of penis sizes? And what has been done by professionals to combat this negative body image?
The first question is concerned with literature; the second question may be expressed in the Discussion area of the paper, as it deals with applications and implications.
Good question. Clearly there's some sort of locker room status competition going on among males, but women typically find the whole thing very strange. A few women do fetishize size, but most women who have experienced the extremes have a strong preference for a penis somewhere within the normal "Goldilocks" range - not too big and not too small. Within that fairly broad range, there seems to be almost no correlation between penis size and sexual satisfaction.
As Amy Muise says in Supersize Me: Does Penis Size Matter to Women?...
Researchers have also explored how women feel about their partner’s penis size. Most women rated their partner’s penis size as average (67%), about a quarter rated their partner’s penis as large (27%), and a few women rated their partner’s penis as small (6%).
Importantly, the vast majority of women were satisfied with their partner’s penis size (84%), and this was a significantly higher percentage than the number of men who were satisfied with their own penis size (55%). Only 14% of women wanted their partner’s penis to be larger, and, in fact, 2% wanted their partner’s penis to be smaller.
[Data from: Lever, J., Frederick, D. A., & Peplau, L. A. (2006). Does size matter? Men’s and women’s views on penis size across the lifespan. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 7, 129-143.]
Porn is clearly a major cause of male insecurity, since it creates a grossly exaggerated idea of what is normal. This is reinforced by the steady drumbeat of penis enlargement ads that claim that 7" is the average erect length, when in fact average is ~5.2" and 7" is above the 98th percentile level. (See "A systematic review of penis length and circumference in 15,521 men," BJUI.)
What's strange about the whole thing is that, given equal levels of confidence and skill, a straight man is more likely to be rejected as a sexual partner for having a penis that is too large than for having one that is too small. See "HOW MUCH DOES PENIS SIZE MATTER?" for discussion and some typical responses; the practical reality is that there are many ways to compensate for small size, but it is very difficult for a woman to accommodate a penis that is simply too big.
In a more general sense, the media's barrage of images of Photoshopped perfection and something about the idealization of bodies in our culture have combined to create high levels of body-image insecurity in both men and women. Penis size seems to be just one area of focus for this obsessive insecurity.
All content is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.