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Study

Study: Size Does Matter to Women

C. Price

Written by: C. Price

C. Price

C. Price is part of DatingAdvice.com's content team. She writes advice articles, how-to guides, and studies — all relating to dating, relationships, love, sex, and more.

Edited by: Lillian Castro

Lillian Castro

Lillian Guevara-Castro brings more than 30 years of journalism experience to ensure DatingAdvice articles have been edited for overall clarity, accuracy, and reader engagement. She has worked at The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Gwinnett Daily News, and The Gainesville Sun covering lifestyle topics.

Reviewed by: Amber Brooks

Amber Brooks

Amber Brooks is the Editor-in-Chief at DatingAdvice.com. When she was growing up, her family teased her for being "boy crazy," but she preferred to think of herself as a budding dating and relationship expert. As an English major at the University of Florida, Amber honed her communication skills to write clearly, knowledgeably, and passionately about a variety of subjects. Now with over 1,800 lifestyle articles to her name, Amber brings her tireless wit and relatable experiences to DatingAdvice.com. She has been quoted as a dating expert by The Washington Times, Cosmopolitan, The New York Post, Bustle, Salon, Well+Good, and AskMen.

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Does size really matter to women? The question has been up for debate for decades.

But a study found penis size actually does matter to women to some extent.

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study found women consider men with longer penises to be more attractive but men with substantially larger-than-average penises are seen as less attractive.

The study consisted of 105 heterosexual Australian women who viewed 53 life-size images of computer-generated male bodies.

“Women consider men with substantially

larger-than-average penises as less attractive.”

Each body varied in terms of height, shoulder-to-hip ratio and penis size. Researchers wanted to determine which sexual characteristics correlated with increased attractiveness.

Participants responded favorably to men who were taller than average, who had broader shoulders than average and who had larger-than-average penises.

However, the study’s results weren’t quite so cut and dry. For example, researchers found women preferred shorter men with broad shoulders to taller men with less masculine traits.

Furthermore, the study found men only need to be slightly taller or broader than average to elicit greater attraction from women, and this pattern held true for penis size as well.

Ultimately, the study determined women favored penises ranging from 5.04 to 5.6 inches in its flaccid state.

Source: Pnas.org.