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Penis-size study 'Am I normal?' reveals average manhood length

The project's goal, said lead author David Veale, was to construct "nomograms" — graphical representations — of penis measurements spanning all ages and races.
A ruler.
A ruler.

For some men, love has long been a battle of inches. But a new report revealing the "definitive" length of typical manhood may let many guys breathe easier — even as they, undoubtedly, grab a ruler.

And for dudes who come up short against the average dimensions of other fellas, sex experts are quick to nix the tired notion that bigger is better.

So how does the regular man size up? The mean length of a flaccid penis is 3.6 inches, and the mean length of an erection is 5.16 inches, according to a paper titled "Am I Normal?" published Tuesday in the British Journal of Urology.

To ascertain such delicately precise numbers, British researchers assessed the merits of 96 previous papers dealing with male private parts, excluding most because they focused on health issues like erectile dysfunction. For this meta analysis, that left 20 valid studies, each conducted to gauge a dude's height and circumference down there. The total members in this unique scientific gathering: 15,521.

The project's goal, said lead author Dr. David Veale, was to construct "nomograms" — graphical representations — of penis measurements spanning all ages and races.

"The nomogram provides reassurance about what a normal size of a penis is," said Veale, a consultant psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.

For many women, the only size that matters "is usually the girth," Veale wrote in an email. "This is because the most sensitive part of the vagina is in the outer regions."

Read the rest at NBCNews.com