4 Myths And About The Penis, And The Facts

Keeping your cell phone on you for the majority of the day may mess with your ability to maintain an erection, according to new research presented at the recent World Meeting on Sexual Medicine.

Researchers studied 30 men—20 with erectile dysfunction, 10 without—to test whether there was a link between excessive cell usage and erection issues. After screening the men, researchers found that guys with ED kept their cells on them twice as long as the men without any penis problems.

Obviously this is a very small study, but there are a lot of myths about the effects technology can have on your manhood, and the researchers hope to inspire future investigations on the subject, says lead study author Rany Shamloul, M.D., a specialist in andrology and sexual medicine at Ottowa Hospital in Canada.

While we
await the definitive answer on whether or not your BlackBerry kills your boner, here are four other penis myths wecan positively put to rest.

The claim: Daily ejaculation hurts your swimmers.According to a study that was up for review by the journalFertility and Sterility, daily ejaculation may damage your sperm’s DNA makeup. But while masturbating every day will decrease the number of sperm in your ejaculate (and thereby “lighten your load”), it really shouldn’t concern you unless you’re trying to get your wife pregnant, says Men’s Healthurology expert Larry Lipshultz, M.D. Hear that, bachelors? No need to destroy your porn stash.

The claim: The average erection is 8 inches. Don’t measure up? Don’t worry. We aren’t sure who started the rumor, but 8 inches is most definitely not the standard. The average length of a penis is a much more manageable 5.5 to 6.2 inches long, according to a 2007 review published in the British Journal of Urology International. But to her, size hardly matters. Men are far more obsessed with their length and girth than women are. In fact, only 9 percent of the ladies we talked to said the size of the ship was most important for great sex. Sixty-seven percent said technique and slow-building friction — “the motion in the ocean” — was most crucial for sexual satisfaction.

The claim: Peeing sitting down is better for your bladder. You may have heard you’ll be able to empty your bladder more efficiently if you sit down to pee rather than stand—a claim that comes straight from the Taiwan Minister, of all people—but from where we’re standing, we’re pretty sure the urinal works just fine. “In fact, a lot of men report the opposite,” says Dr. Lipshultz. “When you sit to void, you’re creating a very acute angle in the urethra—so standing is actually much more effective.”

The claim: Your semen is low-carb. Although there’s plenty of research investigating the health benefits of semen, telling your date that your stuff is low-carb is not going to fly. (Unless you’ve been dying to have drink thrown in your face.) “Semen is mostly fruit sugar [fructose] and enzymes—not low-carb,” says Marc Goldstein, M.D., a professor of reproductive medicine and urology at Cornell University’s Weill Medical College.