Penises

Drinking (Moderately) Helps Mens’ Sexual Performance

Beer (Preuss Podcast)

To a certain extent, we’ve been conditioned by the media to think that having sex after drinking might not be the best thing for me (see: whiskey dick). And that’s true. But moderately imbibing might actually help a man’s sexual performance.

The Keogh Institute for Medical Research at the University of Western Australia in Nedlands surveyed 1.5K+-1.7K+ men (for some reason, I couldn’t find an exact number) about their sexual performance, specifically with respect to sexual dysfunction. The moderate drinkers reported 25%-30% fewer problems than men who didn’t drink at all. This percentage took into account age, smoking habits, and heart disease, all of which affect penile function.

But there is one issue with this study’s results: nobody asked the subjects’ partners if they were satisfied!

(Reversible) Male Birth Control Could Be Available in 2018

Male birth control (The Chicago Tribune)

Whoa! Scientists recently made a discovery that puts us nearer to a male birth control method. And said method might even be available by 2018!

Here are the deets: Scientists at the Parsemus Foundation have developed a “non-hormonal male contraceptive,” which they’re calling Vasalgel. It’s a gel which gets injected into a man’s testicles. Once inside, the gel forms a protective barrier that prevents sperm from leaving the vans deferens (located inside the testicles).

Vasalgel explainer graphic (Tech Times)

So far, the gel has only been through animal testing, specifically on rabbits. Of the 12 rabbits tested, 11 revealed no traces of sperm within their semen within 29 days of receiving the injection. (That twelfth rabbit’s semen cleared of sperm soon after.) The effect endured throughout the 12-month study.

Another important aspect: it’s reversible! Scientists were able to inject a second gel into seven of the rabbits, and their sperm “rapidly” returned.

What does this mean for human men? It looks so promising, right? Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a couple of years. Scientists now need to conduct a human trial, which could happen later this year. Of course, the results will need to be duplicated to get the greenlight. But who knows? Hopefully men around the world will be able to get this procedure done at their doctor’s office within the next five years.

How Big is The Average Penis?

Sewing tape measure (Gika Rector)

Happy Friday! Men, I’m sure you’ve all worried about your size at some point, right? (No royal we here, since I’m not a man and therefore have never had this particular worry.) Depending on your mood today, you may or may not want to read on.

Scientists have (once again) figured out the average penis size. But this time, they’ve really got it down. (Some might say to a science.)

British researchers looked at a pretty comprehensive sample size of 15K+ men from the U.S., Asia, Europe and Africa. The men ranged in age from 17 to 91 years old, and most of them were from either Europe or the Middle East.

The results, published in the “British Journal of Urology” and fittingly titled “Am I Normal?,” found the following:

The mean length of a flaccid penis is 3.6 inches, and the mean length of an erection is 5.16 inches. An average guy’s erect circumference is 4.5 inches.

(How many dudes are frantically measuring right now?)

Here’s more reassurance, per The U.K.’s “The Guardian:”

In reality, only 2.28% of the male population have an abnormally small penis, said the study – and the same percentage an unusually large one.

Over 97% of men have an average-sized penis. This also means that we can assume a normal distribution (or bell curve) in terms of distribution.

Breathing easier now?

To find these numbers, the researchers examined variables from 20 previous studies on penises (culled down from 96 original studies) to construct a “nomogram,” a graphical representation that’s supposed to include all ages and races of men’s genitalia.

The study is the first of its kind to “combine all existing data on penis length and girth into a definitive graph.” It’ll be used by doctors to reassure men from size anxieties.

Here’s one of the graphs related to penile length:

Penile length graph (The Guardian)

However, the researchers have admitted there are some flaws to this study. One is that size differences between the races can’t be compared equally, because the sample sizes of each race were not equal themselves.

And then there’s this flaw:

They acknowledged their results may have been somewhat skewed by the possibility that men who volunteer to be examined may be more confident in their penis size than the general population.

But I’m sure that’s just part and parcel of the entire package (sorry, couldn’t resist). Either way, 97%+ of men can now rest easy.

“New York Times” Sex Data: What Are We Searching For?

Google search bar (Aaj TV)

Happy Friday! Ever wondered what your Google search history says about you? (Of course you do, that’s why you religiously clear your history.) Well, now we have some insights as to what they reveal about Americans’ feelings about sex: Namely, we have a lot of problems and fears surrounding the act.

In late January, economist (and contributing “New York Times” opinion writer) Seth Stephens-Davidowitz published an in-depth look at American sexual mores as revealed by Google searches. He analyzed data from the General Social Survey, which tracks social changes and trends in various aspects of American life. (Questions regarding sexual behavior were added to the GSS in 1988, 16 years after the survey’s inception.)

One thing I liked is that Stephens-Davidowitz mentioned right off the bat is that there’s some self-reporting error going on. He explains that the number of condoms sold does not align with the number of heterosexual sex acts that are performed with a condom. (This is one of the things I find so fascinating about sexuality studies: it’s so easy to lie!)

He focused specifically on why we aren’t having sex and our anxieties about the act. Some interesting findings:

– Unsurprisingly, the Google search for fixing a sexless marriage tops the list of complaints within that institution. But interestingly, boyfriends are the ones avoiding sex within relationships.

– Men search for questions regarding their penises more than any other of their body parts combined. Women, on the other hand, don’t care too much about penises (not enough to Google it, anyway). This isn’t an earth-shattering finding, but it’s the sheer degree of frequency of said searches that really make it interesting:

For every search women make about a partner’s phallus, men make roughly 170 searches about their own.

Seriously, 170! This makes me wonder if a similar occurrence is happening when either sex tries to Google “how to find/where is the clitoris?”.

– Big butts are, and continue to be, a thing. Interest in the booty started growing (heh) in 2010, and has since tripled. (Maybe this coincides with the recent interest in analingus?) There’s a racial element involved as well, as searches for how to make a butt bigger were more common in places with a large black population.

I wish Stephens-Davidowitz delved a bit deeper into his searches. It seemed like the searches for women weren’t as in-depth as the ones for men. And he didn’t cover anyone not in a heterosexual relationship at all. I’d also be interested to see how searches broke down across the country, either state-by-state or by region. It’d also be enlightening to see how these anxieties and problems revealed via the searches change in relation to various age demographics.

But who knows, maybe all that will be featured in follow-up articles.

As an antidote to these findings, Stephens-Davidowitz makes his most excellent point in the very last sentence of his article:

Maybe if we worried less about sex, we’d have more of it.

I know, right? Try and do that this weekend, and every day henceforth.

What’s the Most Dangerous Sex Position?

Girl on top (Ethnic Health Court)

Happy Friday! Time for a Sex & Stats PSA: This weekend, as you’re getting it on with your partner(s), remember that some positions are more dangerous than others. (But that makes them more exciting, right?) Scientists have recently discovered that girl-on-top sex is the most dangerous position for men.

How did they discover this, you ask? Scientists in Campinas, Brazil (a city northwest of Sao Paolo) examined patients from three local hospitals to study penile fractures and their long-term influence on potential future deformities and erectile and voiding issues.

According to “Advances in Urology,” 42 of the 44 “suspicious cases” (95%+ of the total) were confirmed to be penile fractures. The mean age of the men was 34+ years.

The abstract notes that many of the men presented certain, um, signs of fracture:

Half presented the classical triad of audible crack, detumescence (i.e. becoming flaccid), and pain.

(I totally grimaced just typing that. And I’m a woman.)

The researchers found that most penile fractures resulted from heterosexual intercourse, which happened in 66%+ of the subjects. By contrast, homosexual sex brought on fractures only with 9%+ of subjects.

Now, the good stuff: With heterosexual couples, “woman on top” was the most common position, with 14 participants, exactly 50% of the pool. “Doggy style” was the next most common, with a sample size of eight participants, at 28%+. Four subjects reported that the cause of fracture was “unclear,” which sounds like they did a variety of things that, combined, led to the fracture, or were just too embarrassed to report their activities.

The researchers’ hypothesis on why cowgirl is so dangerous boils down to the fact that women can better control the movement, with her body weight resting on the penis. In this position, men are more liable to injury since they can’t control or stop the movement, and they have the potential for greater injury as a result of “wrong-way penetration.”

Let’s review: 42 cases of penile fracture. 28 people/14 couples participating in heterosexual coitus. “Woman on top” has a full 50% chance of resulting in penile fractures.

So go out and have fun, but don’t end up in the emergency room.

How Many Male Newborns Get Circumcised?

Baby boy (CuteNewBaby.com)

A recent NPR article reveals that the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) is considering educating men on the health benefits of circumcision. This wouldn’t be limited to newborn babies, but open to men of all ages.

But how many men are circumcised at birth?

Last year, the CDC released a report analyzing male newborn circumcision long-term trends from 1979 to 2010. The numbers were found using the National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS), and examined national and regional circumcision rates. The study didn’t count any circumcisions performed outside the hospital or on older males.

The study found some interesting things: During the time of the long-range study, circumcision rates declined around 10% to land at 58%+ in 2010. Circumcision rates declined in the 1980s, rose until 1998, and then began declining again.

National long-term circumcision rates (Via CDC.gov)

The report also tracked how circumcision rates broke down by region. Circumcision in the Midwest mirrored the national trend, while the South saw increasing rates until 1998 (contrary to the national pattern), and then declining rates. The West had a steady decreasing rate throughout the study’s duration.

US Regional Circumcision Rates (via CDC.gov)

It’s interesting that rates have declined within the past decade-and-a-half.

Sex & Stats: Where Numbers Come to Bang

Statistics. Economics. Sex.