What are women looking for in a penis? If you thought that length and girth were the only considerations, well, think again. There is so much more a woman can put on her dick wish list, and researchers out of the University of Zurich have new evidence of which penile qualities women prize the most — and least.
For a new study published in the The Journal of Sexual Medicine, the researchers asked 105 women in three different age groups — 16 to 20, 25 to 30, and 40 to 45 years old — to rank the importance of "eight penile aspects," including girth and length but also such traits as scrotum appearance. According to the women, the most important aspect was "general cosmetic appearance," followed by pubic hair appearance, penile skin, penile girth, glans shape, penile length, scrotum appearance, and position and shape of the urethra in last place. One takeaway, then, is that penis owners feeling insecure about creatively positioned urethras can relax.
In addition to ranking penis traits, study participants also compared 10 photos of circumcised penises with 10 photos of penises that had been surgically treated for hypospadias, a condition in which the urethra is located on the underside of the penis; the participants then rated how "normal" they found the treated penises to look (they weren't informed beforehand which penises were which). Apparently, this study was inspired by the shame that some people with hypospadias feel, even after receiving surgery. The women in the study found the majority of the penises with hypospadias to look as "normal" as the circumcised-only penises; the change in their reactions to "different"-looking penises was deemed too small to be relevant.
It does appear that having a generally good-looking penis could mean a sexual leg up. A little grooming down below probably couldn't hurt, either. And, as we already knew, women generally find girth more important than length (wonderful contraptions such as the We-Vibe can offer an enjoyable boost in that department). Bear in mind, however, that the penile preferences of women are not universal — and we'll always argue that it's what you do with what you've got that matters most.