#1 Do you know that half of a man’s penis is inside his body? The root of the penis is tucked inside the pelvis and is attached to the pubic bone.
#2 A man’s penis stops growing when he is in his early 20s.
#3 A matter of seconds
It takes you a while to get warmed up for sex, but most men under the age of 40 can achieve an erection and be ready for the deed in less than 10 seconds.
#4 A man will ejaculate an average of 7,200 times during his lifetime.
#5 It’s a hard day for him
The average guy has 11 erections during the day and about nine erections during the night. That’s a lot of hard-ons. But many of these erections are “spontaneous” and have nothing to do with arousal. It can happen due to factors such as having a massage or reacting to wearing new underwear.
#6 If your man smokes, he now has an even greater incentive to kick the habit. Smoking is thought to shorten his manhood by up to a centimetre. It calcifies the blood vessels, thus affecting blood circulation in the penis, which is necessary for erections.
#7 That smells really good
Aromas of some foods – like doughnuts, pumpkin pie, liquorice and chocolate – can apparently stimulate penile blood flow as they trigger a powerful emotional response in men. Dr Alan Hirsch from the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago found that the combination of the smell of doughnuts and pumpkin pies could increase blood flow to the penis by 20 per cent.
#8 Man with the longest one
American actor and writer Jonah Falcon is believed to have the world’s longest penis – 24cm when flaccid and, ahem, 34cm when erect. His massive member has landed him a spot in a number of documentaries like The World’s Biggest Penis. Last year, the 44-year-old New Yorker, who is unmarried, agreed to donate his penis to the Icelandic Phallological Museum after his death.
#9 Morning wood explained
There’s a perfectly logical explanation why your man wakes you up at the crack of dawn for sex – and it’s not always because he’s had a dirty dream about you, says Martha Tara Lee, clinical sexologist at Eros Coaching. “During the night, blood supply to all parts of his body – including the penis – increases. And when the penis gets engorged with blood, it becomes erect. Coupled with high testosterone levels after a good night’s rest, it is no surprise that your man is always up for sex in the morning!
#10 House of hung
The Icelandic Phallological Museum in Reykjavik houses the world’s largest collection of penises and penile parts from 93 species of animals. Exhibits range from the 2mm penis bone of a hamster, which can only be seen with a magnifying glass, to the 1.70m front tip of a blue whale’s penis.
#11 Only six per cent of men in the world require extralarge condoms (about 5.6cm in width), according to condom manufacturers.
#12 According to the BJU International journal of urology, the average erect penis is about 13.12cm long and 11.66cm in circumference. The study – conducted in March this year – collated the measurements of 15,000 penises around the world.
#13 Phallic festival
In Kawasaki, Japan, the penis is celebrated every year as a symbol of fertility at Kanamara Matsuri, otherwise known as the Festival of the Steel Phallus. People parade massive, phallic Shinto shrines down the street, buy penis-themed memorabilia and food, and pose with penis-shaped sculptures.
#14 Skincredible
What happens to the foreskins of circumcised penises? They are not thrown away, but instead are used to make skin grafts for burn victims. The foreskin of one infant can produce about 23,000 sq m of skin grafts. Doctors extract collagen, a protein, from the foreskin and create grafts from it. The grafts in turn induce the patient’s skin to grow. “In some cases, we can get four football fields (of skin) out of one baby’s foreskin,” says Dr James McGuire, head of wound management at Th e Foot and Ankle Institute of the School of Podiatric Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Images: Corbis and Dreamstime
This story was first published in HerWorld Magazine May 2015.
Learnt some new facts? That’s not all — find out the 4 most common myths about your guy’s penis.