Playboy Advisor FAQ

http://www.playboy.com/faq/faq2.html (PC Press Internet CD, 03/1996)

How large is the average penis?
Is there such a thing as an average penis? We prefer to think they're all special. Here are the statistics on erect penis lengths for white college men, in quarter-inch lengths. The Alfred C. Kinsey Institute for Sex Research reviewed the data and found that of the college males it measured (from the point where the penis meets the body along the top to its tip), 0.2 percent checked in at 3.75 inches erect, 0.3 percent at 4 inches, 0.2 percent at 4.25 inches, 1.7 percent at 4.5 inches, 0.8 percent at 4.75 inches, 4.2 percent at 5 inches, 4.4 percent at 5.25 inches, 10.7 percent at 5.5 inches, 8 percent at 5.75 inches, 23.9 percent at 6 inches, 8.8 percent at 6.25 inches, 14.3 percent at 6.5 inches, 5.7 percent at 6.75 inches, 9.5 percent at 7 inches, 1.8 percent at 7.25 inches, 2.9 percent at 7.5 inches, 1 percent at 7.75 inches, 1 percent at 8 inches, 0.3 percent at 8.25 inches, 0.3 percent at 8.5 inches, 0.1 percent at 8.75 inches and 0.1 percent at 9 inches. Convert everything to metrics if you aren't satisfied with your size in inches.
For those of you convinced that girth is what it's worth, here are the circumference figures (measuring around the penis): 0.3 percent at 1.5 inches, 0.4 percent at 1.75 inches, 0.4 percent at 2 inches, 0.2 percent at 2.25 inches, 0.3 percent at 2.5 inches, 0.3 percent at 2.75 inches, 0.4 percent at 3 inches, 0.4 percent at 3.25 inches, 0.9 percent at 3.5 inches, 1.1 percent at 3.75 inches, 6.3 percent at 4 inches, 6.3 percent at 4.25 inches. The bulk of the college men were in the next few categories: 17.1 percent measured 4.5 inches, 11.7 percent were 4.75 inches, 24.1 percent were 5 inches, 9.9 percent were 5.25 inches, and 11.5 percent were 5.5 inches. There were a few fire hydrants tossed in: 3 percent at 5.75 inches, 3.9 percent at 6 inches, 0.5 percent at 6.25 inches, 0.5 percent at 6.5 inches and 0.1 percent at 6.75 inches.
A more recent study of a sample of 60 men by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco determined that the average size of their erect penises was 5.1 inches long and 4.9 inches in girth. If you believe all these figures (the Kinsey respondents pulled out their rulers in private), now what? Do you guys realize how hard it is to type that many numbers? It's all right if you have a home computer and nothing better to do with an evening, but that's it for statistics.
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Does penis size matter?
J. Scott Verinis, in Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality, suggests that the size of a man's penis initially matters both to the male and the female. "However," he says, "as the relationship progresses, the size of the penis becomes less important to most women, and factors such as the quality of sexual performance and the nature of the interpersonal relationship receive higher priority." The men, however, continue to value the size of the penis at all stages of the relationship. (That makes sense--it's their burden to bear.) So probably the truth is: Size matters to some of the people all of the time and to all of the people some of the time, but not to all of the people all of the time.
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Is there any way to make my penis larger?
First, a word to the wise: Numerous studies have shown that clitoral stimulation--not the size of the man's penis--is the key to sexual satisfaction in women. If you suspect that you're underendowed (and you're probably not--see the average measurements listed above), see a urologist or an endocrinologist for an examination that can determine whether there is a physiological or hormonal cause for your problem. Many of the products you see advertised make claims that are not only ineffective, they are also potentially dangerous.
If you're determined to change the size or shape of your penis, there are surgical methods available that involve either injecting or inserting fat into the penis to increase girth, cutting the suspensory ligament that holds the penis at the pubic bone to increase length, or both. If you want more information, many doctors who perform these procedures advertise in newspapers and men's magazines.
Still, we can't say this enough: Penis enlargement is very controversial in the medical community. The American Urological Association, for one, won't recommend it, noting that injecting or grafting fat ("augmentation phalloplasty") to increase girth or cutting the suspensory ligament of the penis to increase length have "not been shown to be safe or efficacious." Proceed cautiously.
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Is there anything I can do to correct a curve in my penis?
In the July 1989 issue of Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality, Dr. John Gregory and Michaela Purcell, RN, report that curvature of the penis is an increasingly common ailment. In the Seventies, urologists saw two to three cases a year; nowadays, they see one to two a month. There is some evidence that Peyronie's disease (which causes curvature of the penis) runs in families, but perhaps the majority of cases of acquired curvature are the result of trauma. The initial accident may be minor, but as the injury heals, scar tissue forms and deformation results. The curvature often becomes less severe within six months but seldom straightens completely. The authors do not recommend rushing into therapy unless the curvature actually interferes with intercourse. In the past, doctors have treated the condition with vitamin E, ultrasound, aminobenzoate potassium and steroid and collagenase injections. However, current opinion holds that any changes observed were the result of natural improvement. In severe cases, surgery can straighten (and consequently shorten) the penis. In the worst cases, doctors can perform a penile implant. Our advice: See if the situation improves over time. If not, check with a doctor.
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Is there any way to prevent premature ejaculation?
Got a minute? Sex researchers Masters and Johnson found it's possible to recondition sexual responses. They developed the squeeze technique, by which a man--working closely with his partner--can learn to exercise control over his ejaculation. Simply put, when the woman feels that her partner is becoming aroused, she puts her first and second fingers just above and below the coronal ridge (imagine holding a cigar) and her thumb on the underside of the penis. She applies pressure for about four seconds front to back, never side to side. The mistake most novices make is to wait until the man is experiencing ejaculatory inevitability (pulling his hair out, bouncing like the springs of a flat-bed truck, shadow-boxing with the big one). Rather, you use the squeeze throughout the foreplay--before insertion. Once you've mastered this, you can switch to a basilar squeeze technique, in which either the man or the woman slows his excitement by squeezing the base of his penis (again, front to back) for about four seconds.
Here's another method that doesn't involve a partner: In her book, PE: How to Overcome Premature Ejaculation, Dr. Helen Singer Kaplan describes a start-stop method that will teach you the sensations of orgasm and what it feels like just before you come. When you masturbate, "stop stimulating yourself when you reach a high level of arousal, near orgasm. Stop for a few seconds--not long enough to lose your erection but long enough for your excitement to go down a little. Then start the rhythmic stroking of the shaft and tip of your penis again. Interrupt three times. Let yourself come on the fourth time as fast and as freely as you can. During this whole experience, try to concentrate on your pleasurable penile sensations. Do not try to hold back." The method involves moving onto a wet masturbatory technique (using petroleum jelly or soapsuds) to simulate the vagina. You focus on your own sensations, learn to stop and then to let go.
To make this easier, Kaplan suggests learning to rate your sexual arousal: "Rate the degree of your sexual excitement (not your erection) on a subjective scale that runs from zero to ten. Zero is when you are feeling absolutely no excitement at all and ten is when you reach orgasm. You should have been stopping penile stimulation when you were at about eight and a half. If you tried to go until nine and a half, you went a bit too far, and if you stopped at four or five, you ended the stimulation a bit too soon. Remember, the aim of this program is not to keep your excitement down until you want to come. That is no fun at all, and besides, that doesn't work. The objective is for you to learn not to ejaculate while staying at the intensely pleasurable sexual plateau stage that precedes orgasm and to be able to relish the delicious sensations of being highly aroused instead of trying to hold back. During intercourse, most men stay somewhere between five and seven, except for brief peaks of eight or so, until they are ready to go all the way." The scale is useful for gauging your behavior during intercourse. For example, if you reach an eight and a half during foreplay, don't try to penetrate. Let yourself cool down (refrain from rubbing or thrusting against your partner's body). The pace you adopt to keep yourself at six may be just the kind of luxurious lovemaking your partner desires most.
And here's more: In an article in Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality, Daniel Weiss and Dr. David Marcotte suggest that by learning to relax the pubococcygeus muscle (the muscle used to control urination), a man can avoid premature ejaculation. The authors believe that the method is superior to the squeeze technique invented by Masters and Johnson, because it does not require partner cooperation or interruption of the lovemaking. We don't know of any gyms devoted to the relaxation response, but two experiments by Raymond Rosen suggest the shape of things to come. Rosen hooked up 40 male students to a red light and had them listen to a recording of pornography. The light would go on whenever the student got an erection and go off whenever he quelled the erection. Students soon learned to go from full erection to half-mast at will and were better at doing so than those who had not been hooked up to the light. In a related experiment, Rosen told students to try to increase the size of their erections--an orange light would change intensity according to size. By the end of the study, students who were guided by the light were able to turn on at will. Rig up something yourself and work out.
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What is a man's ejaculate made of, and is there any danger in swallowing it?
The chemical composition of ejaculate varies from individual to individual and within the same individual from time to time. Semen is essentially seminal plasma and spermatozoa. Approximately 8 percent of the substance is dry weight. According to the fine print on the label, it contains minute quantities of more than 30 elements such as fructose, ascorbic acid, cholesterol, creatine, citric acid, urea, uric acid, sorbitol, pyruvic acid, glutathione, inositol, lactic acid, nitrogen, B12, various salts and enzymes. According to doctors with better eyesight and more time than we have, the average ejaculate also contains between 78 million and 787 million sperm.
The caloric content of a teaspoon of semen is minimal (perhaps one or two calories) and the nutritional value practically nonexistent. And since semen does not contain any artificial flavoring, meat by-products or monosodium glutamate, your organically inclined friends can continue their inclinations toward your organ. Also, semen does not cause cavities, does not improve the voices of opera singers, does not clear up your complexion (even when applied directly from the tube) and does not cause the growth of facial hair. It does cause babies. Although the amount of ejaculate varies among men and the volume of any given man's ejaculate relates to his number of recent orgasms (higher frequency of orgasms may lessen the amount of ejaculate), the average is one teaspoon of semen per orgasm. If it's any compensation, the initial spurt of ejaculate, as clocked by Herant Katchadourian and Donald Lunde in The Fundamentals of Human Sexuality, travel at 28 mph--approximately the speed limit in the bus lane on the expressway. We're not suggesting you try to swallow a bus, but it's an interesting thought.
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How large is the average penis?

Does penis size matter?

Is there any way to make my penis larger?

Is there anything I can do to correct a curve in my penis?

Is there any way to prevent premature ejaculation?

What is a man's ejaculate made of, and is there any danger in swallowing it?