It will not be a great exaggeration to say that in the fantasy world, male sexual members are only three options – big, gigantic and such that they barely pass through the door …

Reconciling reality is sometimes difficult. Even in cases where a man is functioning at the highest level, his penis does not resemble a ram or any of the tools of the Stone Age. But men have one small advantage. They are living people who can love and experience pleasure, whereas advertising supermen, with their inconceivable erections, are cold and insensible (Zilbergeld, 1978).

It is much easier for a man to see and feel his genitals than for a woman. In contrast to the clitoris or vagina, the male penis is directly involved in the process of urination, so that boys at an early age get used to touching it and taking it in their hands. It is unlikely that the boy can remain in the dark about the sexual aspects of this body. He learns about them by touching his penis, playing with him (and experiencing pleasure) or hearing stories and jokes depicting the sexual and reproductive function of the penis. However, despite all this, many men are not quite clear about the structure and function of their genitals.

Male penis

The male penis (penis) is an external organ formed mainly by three parallel cylindrical bodies, which consist of spongy tissue and are covered with dense shells. A cylindrical body located on the underside of the penis is called a spongy body (corpus spongiosum). In its center passes the urethra (urethra) (urine and semen are excreted by it), which opens to the outside with a urethral opening (meatus urethrae) at the tip of the penis. When an erection, the spongy body is perceived by sight and touch as a direct weight. The other two cylinders (right and left), called cavernous bodies (corpora cavernosa), are located next to each other above the spongy body. All three consist of a shapeless spongy tissue, pierced with small blood vessels. With sexual arousal, this tissue overflows with blood, leading the penis to an erection.

Inside, behind the site of attachment of the penis to the body, the cavernous bodies diverge, forming the legs of the penis (crura), which are firmly attached to the pelvic bones. The penis is supplied with numerous blood vessels, besides those that are found in spongy and cavernous bodies; on the erect penis can often be seen interlacing of venous vessels. In addition, the penis contains many nerve fibers, which makes it highly sensitive to touch, pressure and temperature.

The tip of the penis – its head (glans penis) – is formed by a spongy body. In the head of a member of the nerve endings more than in his body, and therefore it is particularly sensitive to mechanical stimulation. Two other areas that are highly sensitive to touch are the edge of the tissue separating the head from the body of the penis — the crown of the head (corona glandis) and a small triangular area on the underside of the penis, where a small frenulum is attached to its head. According to many men, direct stimulation of the head can cause pain or irritation, so that during masturbation they prefer to rub or stroke the body of the penis.

The skin covering the glans penis – the foreskin (preputium) – is easily movable. With inflammation or infection of the foreskin or glans, sexual intercourse can become painful. Sometimes the foreskin sticks to the head. This is caused by the accumulation under the foreskin of smegma – a cheesy substance consisting of oily secretions, dead epidermal cells, particles of dirt, sweat and bacteria; To avoid this, it is necessary to regularly wash smegma from under the foreskin. A similar problem occurs only in men who have not been circumcised, which can serve as one of the arguments in favor of this operation.

Circumcision consists in the surgical removal of the foreskin. As a result of this light operation, usually done soon after the birth of the baby, the head of the penis is completely exposed. Followers of Islam and Judaism consider circumcision mandatory. In the US, it is often not produced for religious reasons, whereas in Canada and Europe this procedure is less common.

The benefits of circumcision are mainly related to hygiene and health: it includes the possibility of accumulation of smegma, reduces the likelihood of inflammation, infection and cancer of the penis. Although the incidence of cervical cancer in wives of circumcised men is much lower than in women whose husbands did not undergo this procedure (Green, 1977), the existence of a causal relationship here cannot be considered proven (Poland, 1990). In addition, uncircumcised male babies have urinary tract infections many times more often than circumcised ones (Wisseletal., 1987; Herzog, 1989; Schoen, 1990). Even more importantly, recent evidence suggests that circumcision may to some extent protect against infection with the AIDS virus (Quinn et al, 1988; Marx, 1989; Schoen, 1990).

Opponents of circumcision do not see obvious arguments in favor of this operation and believe that removing the skin that protects the head of the penis reduces its sexual sensitivity, as she constantly rubs against clothes. Some others believe that circumcision increases the risk of premature ejaculation (probably wrong because the foreskin of the uncircumcised penis is pulled back during erection, exposing the head; in addition, studies have not found differences in the frequency of premature ejaculation in men who have undergone and not circumcised) . We do not know the reliable data that would indicate the beneficial or adverse effect of circumcision on the sexual functions of men. However, uncircumcised men who observe the usual rules of hygiene are unlikely to put themselves at any serious risk only because their foreskin has not been removed.

No matter how surprising this fact may seem, there are men who are so unhappy that they were circumcised in their infancy, that they are ready to undergo several complicated operations to reconstruct the foreskin (Greer et al., 1982). This kind of treatment takes about a year; however, the reconstructed foreskin (taken from the scrotum) differs from the skin covering the body of the penis, in its texture, color and contours.

Penis size

We have already mentioned that many men are concerned about the size of their penis. More precisely, they are terribly worried about the following question: “What is my penis compared to what others have?” This interest in penis size is composed of several different factors. Firstly, it is a concern about being “normal”, i.e. like all the others. Secondly, the persistent desire to be sexually adequate. It is considered that “the more the better.” There is a widespread belief that a large penis gives a woman more pleasure. In fact, the size of the penis does not have significant physiological significance (although they can have a positive or negative psychological effect), because the vagina adapts its size equally well to a member with a large or small diameter. The length of the penis, which determines the depth of its penetration into the vagina, is also relatively insignificant, since there are few nerve terminals in the inner part of the vagina and in the cervix of the uterus. Thirdly, the desire to have a large penis is often explained solely by ambition. Finally, it seems to some men that a big penis makes them more attractive sexually. All these aspects apply equally to heterosexuals and homosexuals.

In the visual arts and in the media (especially in erotic books, magazines for men and in movies) there is a tendency to depict the male genitalia much larger than their natural size. Such a distortion, firstly, reflects the dream’s victory over reality, and secondly, it demonstrates the possibilities of photography and cinematography. Male readers should also remember that their own penis seems to be shorter (because of the angle of view) than the sexual members of other men, whom they see in the locker rooms or on the screen.

Recently, a group of Canadian researchers studied the psychological impact of penis size on sexual arousal. They found that reading erotic passages that play around the size of the penis had no effect on the level of arousal of students, either male or female (Fisher, Branscombe, Lemery, 1938). Thus, it was concluded that “the value of the size of the penis is as small at the psychological level as, apparently, at the physiological level.”

There are rare cases where the male penis has a normal structure, but its miniature size, not reaching a length of 2 cm – the so-called micropenis. Sometimes this anomaly is caused by a lack of testosterone and is treatable. In other cases, neither pills, nor ointments, nor any kind of mechanical devices or hypnosis are effective, although advertisements advertising similar methods of “treatment” filled up newspapers and magazines.

Men who are very concerned about the size of their penis, the occurrence of sexual difficulties are more likely than those who are not very worried about this problem. The degree of difficulty varies from a complete abandonment of sexual relations because of the fear of not meeting the expectations of the woman to the constant fear about whether to achieve an erection or to keep it. Fortunately, problems of this kind are usually managed after a few consultations with a sexologist or with the help of therapeutic methods.