Scientists have revealed what women rate as being important – and it may surprise you.
Overall cosmetic appearance was rated as the most essential factor, followed by the appearance of pubic hair and skin around the genital area.
While girth was considered the joint third most important aspect, women only rated length as the sixth most vital asset.
Rated as the least important aspect of a penis’ appearance was the position and shape of the urethral opening, where urine leaves the body (defined as the meatus, in medical terminology).
The latter finding was particularly important as some of the men in the study had been treated for the medical condition hypospadias.
This is where the urethra – through which urine is expelled – emerges somewhere on the shaft or even the base of the penis, instead of at the tip.
Sometimes the head of penis is tipped backwards, making it impossible to urinate standing.
The condition is also linked with undescended testes – so sometimes the man is infertile – and men affected by it always have smaller-than-average penises.
The men in the new study had undergone surgery for hypospadias, and the researchers were keen to find out if women could spot the difference between penises that had undergone surgery and those that had not.
However the doctors, from the University Children’s Hospital, in Zurich, Switzerland, were also keen to get women’s views on what constitutes a ‘good looking’ penis in any man.
Their study, entitled ‘What Is a Good Looking Penis’, was published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. First, it was ascertained that the genitals of men who underwent surgery were considered as normal-looking as non-affected, circumcised genitals. They researchers also discovered what women regard as important for overall appearance.
This was done by getting 105 women of different age groups (16-20, 25-30, and 40-45 years) to complete a standardised questionnaire.
In it, the women were asked to rate the importance of eight penile aspects, including girth, length and cosmetic appearance.
They were also asked to indicate how normal they found the appearance of two sets of photos – one of men who’d had surgery for hypospadias and one of men with circumcised genitals.
Circumcised men were chosen as controls because the absence of a foreskin means they have a similar penile appearance to men with corrected hypospadias.
Furthermore, the women were asked about about their sexuality and age.
The results showed that most women were unable to tell if a man had undergone surgery for hypospadias – and the older and more sexually active a woman had been, the more accepting of the procedure she was.
Length was also less of an issue for these women.