Men worry about their manhood, no matter what the size - study

Some men worry people will be able to tell their penis size even when they are wearing trousers.Photo / Thinkstock

A man's level of anxiety about his penis size does not correlate to how his genitals actually measure up, a new study shows.

It revealed that many well-endowed men worry about the size of their penis, while other less blessed blokes are confident in their assets.

Lead researcher, Dr David Veale from King's College London, explained to LiveScience that like other forms of body dissatisfaction, men's anxiety about their penis size is often unrelated to reality.

He also believes that men are far more concerned than women are by penis size.

To conduct the study, Dr Veale and his colleagues recruited 173 men and asked them to fill out questionnaires regarding body image, erectile function and penis anxiety.

Of these men, 46 also agreed to have their manhood measured while both flaccid and erect.

They found 30 per cent of the men were unhappy with their genitals, while 35 per cent were content.

The rest said they fell somewhere between happy and unhappy.

The results showed that older men and gay men were more likely to experience penis anxiety.

The penises measured during the study ranged in size from seven to 18cm when flaccid but stretched.

When erect, they ranged from 10 to 20cm long.

In terms of girth, the flaccid penises ranged from seven to 13cm while the erect ones ranged from nine to 17cm.

Dr Veale said the most surprising finding was that many men said they feared other people being able to work out the size of their penis when they were wearing trousers.

Dr Veale believes that the level of a man's penis size anxiety is more likely to be determined by their experiences than by their actual size.

"Quite a few of them have been teased about their size either by an ex-partner or in the showers as an adolescent," he said.

- DAILY MAIL