Although there is definitely science behind getting frisky with someone you fancy, there are also surprisingly detailed surveys and analyses of both sex and pornography that pop up every now and again on the Internet. More statistics than anything strictly sciencey, they are nonetheless enlightening to a degree. With that in mind, it appears it’s that time, once again, to ask: Does penis size really matter?

Dr. Ed, an online resource for medical information, decided to put this question, and several other queries, to the denizens of the web. They received a response from 2,121 people, with 973 respondents identifying as female. Roughly half of the total were from the U.S. and the other half were European, most of which were British citizens. Most of them were under the age of 45, and clearly had a heterosexual skew.

The perceived average and ideal penis length was one of the first questions on the survey, and there was remarkable parity between the two genders. The average was thought to be around 14 centimeters (5.5 inches), and both men and women thought that the ideal length was above this by around a couple of centimeters or so.

When this question was asked to individual European countries, along with the U.S., it seems that the citizens of Poland have the highest estimates of penis size, both in terms of the perceived average and the ideal lengths: 15.7 centimeters (6.18 inches) and 17.3 centimeters (6.81 inches), respectively. The U.K. comes last on this ignominious list.

Curiously, the U.S. has the largest difference between their perceived average and ideal penis lengths. This whopping chasm of 2.7 centimeters (1.06 inches) suggests that Americans aren’t feeling so confident about the reach of their members for some reason. Delusions of grandeur, perhaps.

Incidentally, those from Maine suggested the highest perceived average penis length of 16.5 centimeters (6.49 inches) and the highest perceived ideal length of 19.3 centimeters (7.59 inches). From the available data, it isn’t clear what makes those from Maine so demanding when it comes to penis size.

Of all surveyed men, most (44.5 percent) said they were “satisfied” with their penis size, with 14 percent claiming they were “very satisfied.” Generally speaking, penis-based satisfaction increases with age. Just 1.7 percent were “very dissatisfied,” although no one above the age of 45 ticked this box.

These findings generally correlate with how men view their penis size as affecting their sexual confidence. Nearly 60 percent said it had no effect at all, which is rather lovely. To men, then, penis size generally doesn’t appear to matter.

According to the women surveyed, around one in five said that penis size isn’t important at all, whereas 67.4 percent said that it was somewhat important, but not of any overriding significance. Only one in 10 said it was very important. One way to interpret these numbers is that as long as it “works,” isn’t microscopic, and is perhaps as near the perceived average (for females) as possible, the better most of these surveyed women will feel during the naughtiness.

In any case, there’s definitely a lot more to intercourse than just penis size. The humble male reproductive organ is simply a part of a complex series of adventurous endeavors, so to speak – so please take these findings lightly.

^{All images courtesy of Dr. Ed}