thescientist | Women rate images of men more highly the larger their penises are, according to a study published yesterday (April 8) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Penis size had about the same influence as height in determining how
females rated the attractiveness of males. Body shape was also
influential in determining hotness—men with broad shoulders and narrow
hips faired best.
Researchers had 105 heterosexual female Australian women rate life-size
computer-generated images of men of various heights, builds, and penis
sizes. They found that, at rather short lengths, adding inches to penis
size was hugely helpful, but the benefit per added inch began to
diminish when penises reached around 3 inches long when flaccid. The
researchers, from three Australian universities, predicted that there
would be a size at which penises became too big but said that they had
not studied big enough penises to reach that point. The longest penises
they tested were around 5 inches long. Also, having a big penis boosted
tall men’s ratings more than it boosted short men’s ratings.
The scientists said that women’s apparent interest in penis size could
explain why human males have penises that are larger in proportion to
body size than the penises of other animals. Since penises would have
been readily visible for much of human evolution, ancestral women could
have selected for large penises through sizing up partners before
copulating.
The preference could have several explanations, the authors speculated.
A previous study showed that larger penises were associated with more
orgasms in female sex partners. A predilection for large penises could
also be a social or cultural phenomenon. Alan Dixson, a primatologist at
the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, told Nature
that in order to understand the cultural component, the researchers
should study how women from various areas and cultures value penis size.
