But then the ancient Greeks thought a small thin penis was the ultimate in sexiness. They believed semen cooled down in a large dick, so to be a virile hunk you needed a skinny adolescent dick. Greek artists disparagingly showed only foreigners and slaves with big dicks.

For the Romans the opposite was true. A large dick was the symbol of power and strength. Roman generals often promoted their soldiers based on penis size, so if you wanted to move up the ranks you needed to have a big piece of meat. Julius Caesar is reputed to have had a whopper.

The human penis is unusually large compared to other primates. That the erection of a 70kg man is larger than that of a 900 kg gorilla has something to do with natural selection. There are scientists that guess that the original function of a large penis was to impress other males, and intimidate them from becoming sexual rivals. Well, we are still impressed.

Zoologists reckon that penis size is related to how often we, as humans, have sex. Gorillas don't have it very often, while humans do. Or at least they want to. And we are descended from humans who had sex even more frequently then we do now. Ah, those were the days! Women would have sex with a whole string of men one after the other, and the man with the biggest dick would be the one who managed to get his semen closest to the cervix and so win the competition to fertilize evolutionary woman. We are all descended from big dicked men with fast swimming sperm. Does that mean our dicks are still getting larger as we evolve? In the 25th century will a Jeff Stryker dick be considered small?

There appears to be no link between genetics and penis size. As a kid if you admired Dad's schlong, and hoped yours would grow up just like his, you could have been in for a disappointment. There is no reason yours will be the same length. But at least as an 11-year-old you can watch your dicklet miraculously double in length over the next four years. Those are the wonder years.

But what is the average length of a hard-on? What is considered normal today? In 1948 The Kinsey Report stated that the average was 6.15". A recent internet survey, where you measured yourself and sent in the result, the average was 6.44". Either small men were too embarrassed to take part, or the temptation to add a little to the real length was too great, because another survey conducted by Lifestyle condoms reached the conclusion that the average was 5,9". So who knows?

Why are penises always measured in inches? If you have a problem converting inches to centimetres then the width of this page is a little under 11 ½ " If your hard-on is as long as that, then I bet The Factory will give you a lifetime membership. If it is only half that, or less, it is still normal. Don't fret; it is the only one you are ever likely to have, so use it and enjoy it. That's why it is there.