What is a Penis?
Penis is an urinogenital organ of a male organism. It serves as an organ to pass sperms (through semen) and urine out of the body thus helping in both urination and ejaculation of semen.
We have reproductive organs – be it female or male, but how much do we know about them like heart, lungs, or brain? Not much! Because talking or knowing facts about them is considered taboo even for knowledge and medical purposes.
It is always better to learn about each and every part of our body to keep them in good condition. It is also important that we start considering reproductive organs or secondary sexual organs like breasts as normal as other organs like kidneys, liver, etc. Today, let us learn some penis facts. Let’s begin…
Penis Facts 1-5
1. Penis is not a muscle as many may think. It is a type of sponge that gets filled with blood when a man is sexually excited. Hence you cannot move it a lot when it is erect.
2. There are two chambers inside the penis. Blood gets filled in both the chambers as the arteries in the chambers widen. It results in swelling and stiffening of the penis.
3. The swelling blocks the veins from carrying blood to the heart and away from the penis. When the arteries narrow as the erection disappears which allows blood to drain away from the penis.
4. According to a study conducted on 274 men, there is no co-relation between the flaccid penis’ length and its size when it is erect. Some are small and grow large and some are large and grow little when excited. These two are called grower and show-er respectively.
5. Men don’t have control on when they ejaculate. It is somewhat because brain is not involved in this process. The signal to ejaculate comes from the spinal cord’s spinal ejaculation generator.
Penis Facts 6-10
6. Brain does help in delaying the event, though. For example: distracting yourself (by thinking something else) will help in delaying.
7. Baby boys can get erection too! Not just that, a male fetus can get an erection inside the womb. There are many ultrasound scans that showed fetuses with a full erection.
8. As per a study of 1991, these erections in fetuses take place when the fetus is in REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. It was also seen that erections can happen multiple time in an hour. It is not known, however, why it happens.
9. Penises are longer than what you think. Almost half of the entire length of penis is inside the body. The shape of the entire penis is more or less like a boomerang.
10. Contrary to popular belief, there is no relation between the penis length and the shoe length. It was concluded in the study published in BJU International journal.
Penis Facts 11-15
11. However, an older study published in the year 1993 found out that there was a very vague relationship between penis length and body height and foot length. But they said that these parameters (body height and foot length) are not practical estimators of the length of the penis.
12. An Iranian study, published in International Journal of Impotence Research, concluded that the penis length is correlated with height, age, index finger’s length but not with foot size.
13. Most of the men have around three to five erection each night – especially during REM sleep. These erections are called nocturnal penile tumescence. It is not known why these erections happen.
14. There is a theory which tries to explain the reason for these erections. According to this theory, it helps in preventing bed-wetting because an erection inhibits urination.
15. But this theory doesn’t fully explain the reason because women also experience similar phenomenon called nocturnal clitoral tumescence. Whatever is the reason, it is useful as a diagnostic tool.
Penis Facts 16-20
16. If a man is not achieving an erection while he is awake but is achieving erection during sleep, then the reason is some psychological issue. If his penis is not achieving erection when in his sleep, then the reason is some physical issue.
17. It is common knowledge that penis doesn’t have any bones. But it still can break! It can happen in multiple ways – participation in vigorous intercourse is one of the top reasons. Woman on top is the most dangerous position. The other reason can be falling off from the bed when you have an erection.
18. It is known as penile fracture. It ruptures the fibrous covering of one of the layers of the penis. The moment the penis gets fractured, you can hear a popping or cracking sound. The blood present inside the chambers flow out and causes swelling and intense pain. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen frequently.
19. Many men don’t go to the doctor because of embarrassment but it is important to note that it is fully treatable and there won’t be any effect on the function of penis.
20. An erect penis can point in any broad direction. It can be vertically up or vertically down, it can be left or right, it can be straight horizontally as in 90 degrees.
Penis Facts 21-25
21. A study conducted on 1565 men got the data presented below:
If the penis is pointing directly or vertically upwards, the angle is considered zero and if it is horizontal, then it is considered 90 degrees.
- 0-30 degrees – 4.9%
- 30-60 degrees – 29.6%
- 60-85 degrees – 30.9%
- 85-95 degrees – 9.9%
- 95-120 degrees – 19.8%
- 120-180 degrees – 4.9%
22. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg created cornflakes to keep American youngsters away from masturbating. Now we know that cornflakes don’t do the job at all!
23. There is a penis museum in Iceland. It is named Icelandic Phallological Museum. It has collection of all penile. It was started by Sigurður Hjartarson when he received a bull’s penis as a boy.
24. There is a restaurant in China’s Beijing called Goulizhuang Restaurant which specializes in testicles and penis recipes.
25. Erections are necessary for the overall health of the penis. If there are no erections (even during sleep), then penile tissue gets shorter resulting in shortening of penis by one to two centimeters. If you achieve erections during sleep, then you don’t have to worry because your brain has a built-in automatic penis maintaining function.
Penis Facts 26-30
26. According to a study, sensitivity of the penis declines with age.
27. The average erect penis is about 5.56 inches or 14 centimeters in length as per a study published in the journal of Sexual Medicine. The study was conducted on 1661 men. But the length varies from 1.6 inches or 4 centimeters to 10.2 inches or 26 centimeters long.
28. Studies proved that smoking can reduce the penis by 0.4 inches or 1 centimeter.
29. According to the same study, some women preferred longer penises to get more pleasure. As per another study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, it was reported that women said ideal size of penis differed with the man’s size. Women preferred longer penises for taller men.
30. Did you know cat penises have spines? According to a study published in Nature journal, even human penises had spines. Ancient humans lost those spiny structures before Neanderthals and modern humans diverged from each other some 700,000 years ago.
Penis Facts 31-35
31. Penises of other mammals have bones called baculum. It helps in keeping the penis erect. Even human penises had but with evolution, baculum disappeared. It is not known why the bone disappeared. According to a biologist, Richard Dawkins, it allows the females to measure the potential partner’s health – if the erection is not happening, then the blood flow and the overall health is not normal.
32. There is something called ‘penis anxiety’. According to a 2013 study published in Journal of Sexual Medicine, 30% of British sample were not happy with their penis size. The study didn’t find any link between actual penis size and size anxiety.
33. When the girth and length is considered, humans may have the largest penis of all the primates. Gorillas penis’ measures only two inches in length.
34. There is a 15th-century witch-hunting manual called Malleus Maleficarum, written by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. In the manual, you can see that it was believed back then that witches can steal men’s penises.
35. Most men suffer from Erectile Dissatisfaction than Erectile Dysfunction!
Penis Facts 36-40
36. Jonah Falcon of New York is believed to have the largest erect penis in the world. The penis when erect measured 13.5 inches and when flaccid measured 9.5 inches. The smallest penis ever recorded measured 2 inches. The biggest average penis size is 7.1 inches and is found in the men in the Republic of Congo, as per a study conducted by the University of Ulster.
37. 58% of the American men are not circumcised. The average orgasm for a man lasts for six seconds.
38. Some men are born with two penises. This doesn’t mean double fun but neither of the two penises are fully functional. There are other genital issues that come along with having two penises and they will need a surgery to correct the issue. This condition is called Diphallus and occurs in one male for every 5 to 6 million men.
39. Fear of penis is called Phallophobia.
40. According to a study conducted in 1940s by Alfred Kinsey, one in thousand men were flexible enough to pleasure themselves.
Penis Facts 41-45
41. Japan celebrates the Festival of the Steel Phallus every year on 6th of April. It started in 17th century. It was started because on this day, prostitutes prayed to God to protect them from STDs. It now has become an AIDS awareness event.
42. Doctors use baby foreskins to produce skin grafts for burn victims. A single foreskin can produce 23,000 square feet of skin.
43. The average speed of ejaculation is 28 miles or 45 kilometers an hour. Semen contains amino acids, citric acid, enzymes, fructose, etc. and hence believed by some that it is good for the skin.
44. Germany records the most penis enlargement procedures in the world.
45. Penis gets erected moments after the death. The erection is called angel lust or terminal erection. It is mostly seen in cases where death occurred due to hanging. Other common occurrences are death by gunshot wound to head, poisoning, and damage to blood vessels.
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