Has A Penis
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Has A Penis
Samantha Lauriello is a social media strategist and editor. She was previously an assistant editor at Health before moving over to Travel + Leisure as a social media editor.
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Isabel Casimiro, MD, PhD
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Isabel Casimiro, MD, PhD, is an endocrinologist at the University of Chicago in Illinois. As a physician-scientist in molecular biology, she uses her research on diabetes, lipid disorders, cardiovascular function, and more to provide comprehensive care to her patients. Her research findings have been published in several scientific and medical journals, including Cell Metabolism and the Journal of the Endocrine Society. Dr. Casimiro also has extensive experience providing gender-affirming hormone therapy and improving education regarding transgender medicine for endocrinology fellows. Her work with transgender patients has been published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society and Transgender Health. Dr. Casimiro also serves on graduate and medical school program committees and is a clinical instructor at the University of Chicago. Dr. Casimiro received her PhD in biomedical research from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and her medical degree from the University of Washington. She completed her internal medicine residency and endocrinology fellowship through the Physician Scientist Development Program at the University of Chicago. She is board-certified in internal medicine.
As straightforward as it may appear, the penis can be pretty mysterious. Why is it always hard in the morning? What makes it go soft in the middle of sex sometimes?
To help you get a handle on all things penis-related, we consulted healthcare providers who specialize in male sexuality and urology and asked them to shed light on the questions and topics you may not want to ask about. Behold, 10 fascinating facts that may surprise you.
The average length of an erect penis is between 5.1 and 5.5 inches, according to research published in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy . The average erection girth is 4.5 inches, according to the Sexual Medicine Society of North America (SMSNA).
When men are smaller or larger than average, it's not by much. "Almost every man is between 4 and 6 inches, and maybe 15% of men have a penis over 7 inches in length," said Michael Reitano , MD, physician in residence at men's health company Roman.
As for non-erect penises, the average flaccid length is 3.606 inches and the average flaccid girth is 3.665 inches. Dr. Reitano explained that there's no correlation between how big a penis is when it's not erect and when it is.
The typical female orgasm lasts about 20 seconds, said Dr. Reitano, which makes it three times as long as the average male orgasm—which clocks in at just six seconds. Like the ability to have multiple orgasms and G-spot orgasms , consider this one more orgasmic advantage women have over men.
No, it's not because of sexual dreams. Though the exact reason isn't known, the four to six sleep erections one has each night may be the body's way of keeping things healthy, said Natalya Lopushnyan , MD, a urologist at Greater Boston Urology. "If men don't get regular erections and the penis doesn't expand regularly, it starts to scar down and actually becomes shorter." A person with prolonged erectile dysfunction will likely find his penis to be shorter than it used to be, she said.
As if there aren't enough health risks associated with cigarettes, it's also poison to penises. "Smoking can affect the blood vessels, meaning it can affect (a man's) ability to have an erection," said Dr. Reitano. "Even men who have an erection may not be getting as full an erection as they would be if they weren't smoking." In fact, a smoker can expect their erect penis to be up to an inch shorter than if they gave up the cigs, said Dr. Reitano. Once they quit, the true size of their erection will likely return.
In the early stages of embryonic development, the clitoris develops from the same tissue as the penis. "We all have the same parts; it just depends on what hormones we have in our bodies that influence male vs. female part development," said Dr. Lopushnyan. When a destined-to-be-male embryo releases testosterone , the male sex hormone, that sexual tissue grows and becomes a penis. In the absence of testosterone, the same tissue stays small and becomes the clitoris.
"The tip of the clitoris is also very similar to the head of the penis," said Dr. Lopushnyan. "It's very sensitive, and honestly, if you look at it, it kind of looks the same, just smaller." It also functions in a similar way. "When a woman gets excited, the clitoris becomes larger and gets filled with blood," she added.
A circumcised penis is one that no longer has a foreskin—a retractable sheath of skin that covers the head of the penis and is surgically removed within days of a boy's birth. Circumcision is common in many cultures around the world, though rates are on the decline in the United States. According to The American Academy of Pediatrics , there are reasons in favor of and against circumcision, and since it is not essential to a child's health, parents should choose what is best for their child by looking at the benefits and risks.
Other than appearance, said Dr. Lopushnyan, there's not much difference between circumcised and uncircumcised penises. When an uncircumcised person gets an erection, the foreskin folds back and the head is exposed, so you won't notice a difference during sex.
Penile fracture is a real (and very, very painful) thing. Though the penis doesn't have a bone, the fibrous, blood-filled tissue inside an erect penis can tear if it is thrust against something too forcefully, said Dr. Lopushnyan. When it tears, "all of that blood comes out and stays under the skin, so you very quickly get this huge bruise and a lot of swelling," she explained. A fractured penis turns purple, swells, and resembles an eggplant.
Sexual positions that have a partner coming straight down on the penis put a penis at the greatest risk for fracture. If a broken penis isn't addressed immediately, it can result in permanent damage.
Two key things are needed to have an erection: healthy blood vessels to carry blood to the penis and healthy nerves to signal those blood vessels to start pumping. Without these, the result can be erectile dysfunction (ED)—which means trouble having or maintaining an erection.
According to the National Library of Medicine , ED is common and becomes more frequent with age. But it's not a natural part of aging.
Heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other potentially life-threatening issues can cause ED because they affect blood vessels, so anyone who suffers from ED should see a healthcare provider. ED can also be the result of stress, depression, and anxiety. If a physical workup comes out normal, a mental health evaluation may be in order.
Waking up with a hard-on is normal, since testosterone levels are highest in the morning. If having morning erections stops, however, it could mean that something's up health-wise. Two weeks without one necessitates a trip to a healthcare provider, said Dr. Reitano.
Sometimes, hormone levels, blood vessels, or mental health are to blame. "It's so important that men realize an erection is more than just something that happens based on their being able to be sexually active, but it's based on being healthy individuals who are taking care of every organ system," said Dr. Reitano.
It's very uncommon, but an allergy to semen (or more precisely, an allergy to the proteins in semen) is a real medical condition. Signs a partner should look for include burning, itching, redness, and vaginal discomfort 10 to 30 minutes following unprotected sex, said Dr. Lopushnyan. It might happen the first time you have sex, or it could develop years later.
A semen allergy is often misdiagnosed as a yeast infection or an STI, according to the International Society for Sexual Medicine . If you're noticing these signs, try having sex with a condom. If the symptoms don't appear, semen might be the culprit. While it can be a major relationship buzzkill, it is possible to conceive with someone whose semen you're allergic to with the help of in vitro fertilization, said Dr. Lopushnyan.
Being aware of some of the basic facts about penises can help you and your partner stay safe and healthy and have a fulfilling sex life too.
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Of all the body parts, none may elicit more questions—and myths—than the penis. One of the male sexual organ's main roles is to make procreation happen, but the penis also has cultural significance. Here are 12 facts to clear up the confusion.
The penis has two main biological roles, according to Michael Reitano, a physician-in-residence and an expert in sexual health and wellness for Roman Health . One is the elimination of waste in the form of urine; the second is the means for transferring semen, which carries sperm from the testes out of the body to somewhere else, such as the vagina for procreation. Another of its functions is, of course, sexual pleasure.
All mammalian embryos start life as female in presentation, before the chromosome process is activated, with an external, undifferentiated clitoris-like structure. Eventually, embryos with XX chromosomes will develop a clitoris, labia, and vagina, while those with XY chromosomes will grow a penis and testes.
The penis may look like one long tube, but there are actually three columns of tissue that run along the inside of the penis. Two are corpus cavernosum columns, which extend from the base to the end of the penis and fill with blood to allow for erection. The other is the corpus spongiosum; it surrounds the urethra, the tube through which urine and semen passes. The corpus spongiosum also fills with blood during erection, but remains pliable to keep the urethra open.
When girth is considered, the human penis is quite a bit larger than those of its primate cousins. "A gorilla, for example, has a penis just 2 inches long. Human males walk upright, and it is thought that larger genitalia might have acted as a sexual attractant in competitive situations," Reitano says. But according to the Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny, chimpanzees and bonobos' penises are more slender but comparable to the length of an average human penis ( which is 5.16 inches long and 4.59 inches around when erect, 3.61 inches and 3.66 inches around when not). Scientists theorize that our unique proportions are a result of natural selection through female mate choice.
The human penis is most definitely among the smoothest in the animal kingdom. "In the distant past, it probably had sharp barbs, like some of our primate cousins, to make sex with another partner soon after coitus unlikely," Reitano says. Chimp penises still have small barbs that "hold the female in place, and when the penis is removed, it irritates the female's vagina so she avoids other chimps who might want to mate with her," he explains. (Let's not get started on the exploding corkscrew penis of the Muscovy duck, which looks like it makes for some irritating coitus.)
One of many bizarre beliefs put forth in the Malleus Maleficarum , a 15th-century German witch-hunting manual by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, was the opinion that witches could steal men's penises. Kramer wrote that witches "can take away the male organ." He didn't mean Lorena Bobbitt-style, clarifying, "not indeed by despoiling the human body of it, but by concealing it with some glamour."
In a 2002 paper published in the Journal of Folklore Research , Moira Smith pointed to male sexual insecurity as a driver of the witch hunts. "Many of the crimes ( maleficia ) attributed to witches concerned sexuality: copulation with incubus devils, procuring abortions, causing sterility and stillbirth, and impeding sexual relations between husbands and wives," she wrote.
Achieving an erection is one of the most complex functions to happen in a man, Reitano says: "For starters, hormones must be released on demand, arteries need to carry six times more blood to the penis with perfect efficiency, the nervous system must transmit its signals without a hitch, and the mind must be working in perfect harmony with the body."
The ability to get and sustain an erection, he says, depends upon "a body that is perfectly tuned physically, psychologically, and emotionally." The inability to achieve an erection, a.k.a. erectile dysfunction, is usually the first sign of poor health, according to Reitano.
Many mammals, including gorillas and chimpanzees, have a penis bone or "baculum," says Arash Akhavein, a urologist at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. In some animals, like whales, the baculum hangs back inside the abdomen until mating time, and then it slides into the penis to help maintain an erection. Instead of relying on this kind of structure, the human penis requires blood flow and engorgement for erection.
Unfortunately, the penis can be fractured during sex, Reitano says. While penile fracture is relatively uncommon, it can happen when the thick sheath called the tunica albuginea, which gives an erect penis its rigidity, is injured by blunt force. "When it fractures, there is usually a clear popping sound, extreme pain, and the rapid loss of erection," Reitano says.
And yes, researchers have studied the sexual positions associated with the problem in heterosexual couples. A 2014 study in Advances in Urology found that the woman being atop the man was the primary position associated with penile fracture; the man being behind the woman was the second most commonly linked. A 2017 study in the International Journal of Impotence Research found that man-behind-woman was most often associated with fracturing a penis, followed by man-atop-woman.
In an uncircumcised penis, the glans (head) of the penis is covered by skin known as the foreskin, which can be pulled back from the glans. Circumcision, the removal the foreskin, is an ancient surgical practice performed for religious reasons and to prevent issues stemming from poor hygiene.
One thing circumcision doesn't prevent is masturbation. But in English-speaking countries in the 19th century, a general attitude against sexual profligacy, fueled by religious ideology , led to fears about the effects of masturbation and a spike in circumcision. Religious leaders and physicians warned people to avoid "self-abuse" for fear it could cause physical and mental disorders such as tuberculosis, memory loss, and epilepsy. As Tom Hickman writes in his book God's Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis , "What made circumcision common among the proliferating 19th-century middle classes on both sides of the Atlantic was the hysteria about masturbation; removing the foreskin helped its prevention, doctors declared, and also cured bed-wetting and other conditions."
It's most common for boys to be circumcised as newborns, and in some cultures as adolescents , but there are a number of reasons why adult men may choose to have a later-in-life circumcision, Akhavein says. These include tears in the skin where the tip of the penis attaches to the foreskin; when the foreskin is too tight to be retracted easily, a condition called phimosis; and a buildup of smegma, a whitish waxy substance made up of dead skin cells and oils. Men who had an incomplete circumcision (too little skin removed) in childhood would also be good candidates.
In 1974, an Icelandic history teacher named Sigurður Hjartarson received a cattle whip made out of a bull penis, which apparently gave him the idea to collect other penises, because hey, why not? The result is the Icelandic Phallological Museum , which holds a collection of more than 238 penises and penile parts from nearly all the fauna in Iceland. Yes, including Homo sapiens .
The largest penis on hand, from a sperm whale, stands at 6 feet tall and weighs nearly 150 pounds. "You’ll learn that as with everything in nature, the diversity in this department is as great as in any other; even within the same species the difference in size and shape is often quite remarkable," Hjartarson told Mental Floss in 2015.
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