Not all women are concerned with a man’s penis size, says new research.

Only women who orgasm easily through intercourse are more concerned with size, according to a study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

University of the West of Scotland psychologist Stuart Brody gathered 323 female students and asked them about their past sexual encounters, penile-vaginal intercourse, and whether penis length influenced their ability to orgasm.

What he found was that women who had a hard time climaxing through penetration, around half of the respondents, weren’t as concerned with penis length.

Dr David Miller, medical director at the WA Sexual Health Centre, says it’s not surprising old myths die hard, with organisations making $70 million a year by promising false fixes for dissatisfied men.

“There is a massive amount of good information available to men but, especially on the internet, a great deal of what you see is geared towards selling something.”

Miller says the three most common problems for men are erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation and testosterone deficiency in older men, but popular research has had a big role to play spreading misinformation.

Women look for length

Russell Eisenman, from the University of Texas-Pan American, published the study Penis size: Survey of female perceptions of sexual satisfaction in which female university students were asked if length or width was more important. The majority of women chose width.

Although Eisenman used a small study group, there is more research to support the claims. Psychology Today surveyed 1500 readers and found men were far more concerned with the length of their penis than women. In fact, 71 percent of women thought men placed too much emphasis on the size of their penis and not enough on grooming.

“While I am not as concerned with the physical appearance of a male partner, cleanliness ranks as number one on my list,” a female participant commented.

Performance problems are for old age

Between the ages of 40 and 70, the percentage of impotent men doubles to around 60 percent. Miller says as many as half of all 50-year-old men experience erectile dysfunction.

He says it is important to realise that obesity and vascular health, which can cause heart disease, can affect penis functon and even size. Why? Blood flow to the penis declines with age and the ability for the penis to become erect is reduced by blockages in the blood vessels and reduced elasticity. The testicles are also prone to shrinkage after 40. The good news is that it won’t necessarily impinge on your lovemaking — a US study of 2213 men found that decline in penis function and size resulted in only a marginal decrease in sexual satisfaction.

But performance problems aren’t always medical, or age-related.

“Adrenaline is the biggest erection killer around,” Miller says.

“We get a lot of guys in their 20s who have had a bad experience and performance problems, and then they suffer anxiety because if that.”

He said the most common misconception was that only older men faced erection problems, when for various reasons it is very common in young men.

“Guys who are stressed or depressed can have a lot of pressure on them, and when it comes to performing sexually, Mother Nature just says it’s not the time.”

Drug use, even in teenagers, can also prevent males from getting an erection or reaching orgasm.

Guys with big feet have big penises

While many have tried, no studies have managed to convincingly link shoe size to penis length. A widely cited UK study conducted in 2002 concluded: “The supposed association of penile length and shoe size has no scientific basis.”

What followed was a flurry of questionable research, including a Korean study suggesting a correlation between finger length and penis size and a US paper concluding one’s penis size could be linked to nose length.

You can make it bigger without surgery

Unfortunately for some, there is no non-surgical technique to significantly increase size. Penis pumps may help create a stronger erection, but they will not create a larger penis. Studies from the Journal of Urology say this is because the penis is composed largely of spongy erectile tissue and not of muscle, which means it can’t be strengthened or ‘stretched’.

“Unfortunately even surgery might only offer marginal increases in size,” Miller says.

Penis enhancement saw serious growth over the last few decades, coming in the form of pills, patches, vacuums, gels, creams, oral sprays and stretchers. But most medical professionals will agree they make false promises.

“Eventually guys start to learn that taking care of your partner is not so much to do with size, it’s how you do it. But for a lot of guys being able to have an erection is a big part of their manhood and persona,” Miller says.

Source: ninemsn.com.au