Wy wife and I watched Dolemite last night. It is surprisingly touching for such a raunchy and funny movie. It is also closer to the truth than many biopics, and well worth watching. Seeing it awakened an old memory and a longstanding hurt. This blog post makes reply to that old event.
Some while ago, a girlfriend made multiple remarks about sex with black men. She positively gushed about their direct, animalistic sexuality and their penile size. Given that I was lying in her bed and we had just finished moments of intimacy ourselves the remarks were incredibly hurtful. I've known my share of women, and I have never had a complaint about my tools or their use. Although I tend to discount such remarks as 'situational flattery' just a few ill-chosen words can have quite an impact at vulnerable times. Dolemite's very open sexual contenta and this past experience prompted me to look up data about sexual differences by race. The results are interesting.
First, the obsession of so many men- penile size. Penile length has a measurement standard- from pubic bone to tip of glans. For fatter men this means indenting the pubic fat pad until you touch bone. Measurement is not done from the penile root on the perineum behind the scrotum. Aside from overt exaggeration it is this obviously meaningless measurement that gives rise to stories of 12 inch penises. Girth is measured at the widest point, typically at or close to abdominal insertion. Another issue is who does the measuring. Self-measurement gets a larger result than medical professional measurement. While this can be passed off as private exaggeration there is also the issue of erectile quality in a medical setting. It may be the medical data is less accurate, but since it has standard conditions and definitions it is the data used.
There is a surprising amount of high quality data on penile size, and it is all remarkably consistent. Average penile length is 5.17 inches, and the range is much smaller than generally thought, with 75% of men falling between 11 and 17 cms (4.3-6.7 inches). This data comes from an international review study of 15,000 men, but multiple smaller studies have similar results. The earliest such paper is from Germany in the 1880s, and results are still the same. About 1-2% of men have a penile length that exceeds 7.5 inches.
Of equal interest is the lack of variation by race. Despite all the jokes, reputations, etc, etc black men, hispanic men, white men and asian men all have the same average penile size and size distribution. There is no magical 'black guys have bigger dicks' or 'asian men are all shrimps'. It is simply not true. Interestingly, men typically underestimate their own penis size, not in measurement but in visual assessment. There is view error (looking down from head height) and comparison error (comparing self to porn stars using viagra).
Just to add to the irrelevancy of penile size, in every study women are more interested in penile girth than length. The reason is clear when you understand the anatomy. The vagina is sensitive only to stretch in all but its lowest few centimeters. Since the vagina can accommodate a baby's head no penis can stretch the upper vagina in a meaningful way. On the other hand, a wider penis does provide much more stimulation to the most sensitive areas of the introitus and vestibule. Finally, since the clitoris is not stimulated directly by the penis during intercourse, coital motion is every bit as important as penile size in determining pleasure. That result comes out in every study as well; motion, not size, counts.
Penile function changes throughout a man's life. Time to erection does not vary by race but by age. Before age 25, time to full erection is typically less than a minute. By age 60, it averages 5 minutes, meaning half of men take longer than that to achieve a full erection. This can result in 'spectatoring', the man more concerned about getting an erection than in enjoying the sexual encounter. Shame and fear from this normal age-related physiological change accounts for more visits for erectile dysfunction than does the complete inability to achieve an erection.
Erectile dysfunction correlates closely with age but also with diabetes, hypertension, stress, depression, medications and alcohol and cigarette usage. Troubling degrees of erectile dysfunction are present in 40% of men at age 40 and about 70% by age 70, although complete erectile failure is much less common, 5% at age 40 and about 15% at age 60. Again in contradiction to stereotype, black men are rather more likely to have erectile dysfunction, mainly because of diabetes and alcohol usage, the increase in risk varying from almost zero to 20% depending on studies.
There are no studies I could find on patterns of sexual behavior by race but there is suggestive data from separate sources. Kinsey's material, admittedly focusing on range rather than distribution, found the average sexual encounter is 9 minutes from start to finish, including 5 minutes of foreplay and 4 minutes of coitus. Other studies have found similar results. Sexual practices, however, varied substantially by education and income in Kinsey's data. Kissing was ABSENT from sex play in 41% of encounters for men with no high school education. Oral-genital sex play was appreciably more common in higher socio-economic groups than in low education, low-income settings.
This may have bearing on that girlfriend's comment. She was not of an especially high socio-economic background, and may have experienced and therefore expected little more than a 'wham bam thank you ma'am' approach to sex. Overall, black men have a lower socio-economic attainment than white men in the US. Combining this information, it is easy to imagine that black men are more sexually direct not for racial or ethnic reasons but simply because of lower socio-economic status, with the attendant practices and beliefs.
In summary, despite stereotypes, there are no racial differences in penile size and likely none in sexuality. The persistent claim that black men are better endowed and 'more animalistic' is not a compliment. It's just racist.
Ted
Some while ago, a girlfriend made multiple remarks about sex with black men. She positively gushed about their direct, animalistic sexuality and their penile size. Given that I was lying in her bed and we had just finished moments of intimacy ourselves the remarks were incredibly hurtful. I've known my share of women, and I have never had a complaint about my tools or their use. Although I tend to discount such remarks as 'situational flattery' just a few ill-chosen words can have quite an impact at vulnerable times. Dolemite's very open sexual contenta and this past experience prompted me to look up data about sexual differences by race. The results are interesting.
First, the obsession of so many men- penile size. Penile length has a measurement standard- from pubic bone to tip of glans. For fatter men this means indenting the pubic fat pad until you touch bone. Measurement is not done from the penile root on the perineum behind the scrotum. Aside from overt exaggeration it is this obviously meaningless measurement that gives rise to stories of 12 inch penises. Girth is measured at the widest point, typically at or close to abdominal insertion. Another issue is who does the measuring. Self-measurement gets a larger result than medical professional measurement. While this can be passed off as private exaggeration there is also the issue of erectile quality in a medical setting. It may be the medical data is less accurate, but since it has standard conditions and definitions it is the data used.
There is a surprising amount of high quality data on penile size, and it is all remarkably consistent. Average penile length is 5.17 inches, and the range is much smaller than generally thought, with 75% of men falling between 11 and 17 cms (4.3-6.7 inches). This data comes from an international review study of 15,000 men, but multiple smaller studies have similar results. The earliest such paper is from Germany in the 1880s, and results are still the same. About 1-2% of men have a penile length that exceeds 7.5 inches.
Of equal interest is the lack of variation by race. Despite all the jokes, reputations, etc, etc black men, hispanic men, white men and asian men all have the same average penile size and size distribution. There is no magical 'black guys have bigger dicks' or 'asian men are all shrimps'. It is simply not true. Interestingly, men typically underestimate their own penis size, not in measurement but in visual assessment. There is view error (looking down from head height) and comparison error (comparing self to porn stars using viagra).
Just to add to the irrelevancy of penile size, in every study women are more interested in penile girth than length. The reason is clear when you understand the anatomy. The vagina is sensitive only to stretch in all but its lowest few centimeters. Since the vagina can accommodate a baby's head no penis can stretch the upper vagina in a meaningful way. On the other hand, a wider penis does provide much more stimulation to the most sensitive areas of the introitus and vestibule. Finally, since the clitoris is not stimulated directly by the penis during intercourse, coital motion is every bit as important as penile size in determining pleasure. That result comes out in every study as well; motion, not size, counts.
Penile function changes throughout a man's life. Time to erection does not vary by race but by age. Before age 25, time to full erection is typically less than a minute. By age 60, it averages 5 minutes, meaning half of men take longer than that to achieve a full erection. This can result in 'spectatoring', the man more concerned about getting an erection than in enjoying the sexual encounter. Shame and fear from this normal age-related physiological change accounts for more visits for erectile dysfunction than does the complete inability to achieve an erection.
Erectile dysfunction correlates closely with age but also with diabetes, hypertension, stress, depression, medications and alcohol and cigarette usage. Troubling degrees of erectile dysfunction are present in 40% of men at age 40 and about 70% by age 70, although complete erectile failure is much less common, 5% at age 40 and about 15% at age 60. Again in contradiction to stereotype, black men are rather more likely to have erectile dysfunction, mainly because of diabetes and alcohol usage, the increase in risk varying from almost zero to 20% depending on studies.
There are no studies I could find on patterns of sexual behavior by race but there is suggestive data from separate sources. Kinsey's material, admittedly focusing on range rather than distribution, found the average sexual encounter is 9 minutes from start to finish, including 5 minutes of foreplay and 4 minutes of coitus. Other studies have found similar results. Sexual practices, however, varied substantially by education and income in Kinsey's data. Kissing was ABSENT from sex play in 41% of encounters for men with no high school education. Oral-genital sex play was appreciably more common in higher socio-economic groups than in low education, low-income settings.
This may have bearing on that girlfriend's comment. She was not of an especially high socio-economic background, and may have experienced and therefore expected little more than a 'wham bam thank you ma'am' approach to sex. Overall, black men have a lower socio-economic attainment than white men in the US. Combining this information, it is easy to imagine that black men are more sexually direct not for racial or ethnic reasons but simply because of lower socio-economic status, with the attendant practices and beliefs.
In summary, despite stereotypes, there are no racial differences in penile size and likely none in sexuality. The persistent claim that black men are better endowed and 'more animalistic' is not a compliment. It's just racist.
Ted
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