# breeding them bigger or better? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 31, 2000, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breeding-them-bigger-or-better/20975 "2000-05-31T03:22:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![madd1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@madd1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madd1)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breeding-them-bigger-or-better/20975/1 "2000-05-31T03:22:41Z")
If size matters, wouldn’t all men be hung like horses? Would not women only want men with large members, thus breeding more men with even larger members…and so, and so on? My God! Where will it all end? ---
**Author:** ![Initial\_Entry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e9a140/32.png) [@Initial\_Entry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Initial_Entry)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breeding-them-bigger-or-better/20975/2 "2000-05-31T03:44:52Z")
Somewhere around the knees probably. ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breeding-them-bigger-or-better/20975/3 "2000-05-31T03:51:11Z")
Natural selection is complicated but what is important is the likelihood of a gene being well represented in future generations. Genes that increase sexual attactiveness do not necessarily have a big advantage since sex does not always lead to surviving offspring. At some point, large members could interfere with other factors involved in male reproductive success (e.g, competing for “good” mothers, that is, females able to produce and nurture large numbers of children). ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breeding-them-bigger-or-better/20975/4 "2000-05-31T03:57:24Z")
There are other factors besides what’s attractive to females. The male also has to survive with the thing. I keep tripping over mine. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breeding-them-bigger-or-better/20975/5 "2000-05-31T04:49:03Z")
Would disagree re sexual attractiveness (however defined) not having _big_ advantage. Sex may not always lead to surviving offspring but it _normally_ would and all other things being equal sexually attractive men (in a physical sense) would (and generally do) have better success propagating their genes. Having said this women and men often define “sexually attractive” differently. In the case of male “sexual attractiveness” from a female perspective, physical attractiveness (or lack thereof) is often weighed along with with a demonstrated resource component ie wealth status, intelligence etc. See The Origins of Virtue : Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation [Paperback] By: Matt Ridley The Moral Animal : Why We Are the Way We Are : The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology Being hung like a horse in an evolutionary sense really doesn’t make a lot of practical sense physically. An extra large member while interesting to look at would be no better at insemination and would present practical problems for women with slightly smaller than usual vaginal openings. In addition consider the difficulties of having a foot long BSD (Big Singing D\_\_k per the Wall Street boys most desired status). In the evolutionary, pants free environment this mighty sausage would be flopping all over the place when you are running from the lion, getting in your way while you are hunched over trying to make that perfect flaked spear point and possibly not generating much female enthusiasm in a pre KY, pre-vaseline environment when most women were being mated between 13 and 16. > [@](#): > > \*\* > Natural selection is complicated but what is important is the likelihood of a gene being well represented in future generations. Genes that increase sexual attactiveness do not necessarily have a big advantage since sex does not always lead to surviving offspring. At some point, large members could interfere with other factors involved in male reproductive success (e.g, competing for “good” mothers, that is, females able to produce and nurture large numbers of children). > \*\* ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breeding-them-bigger-or-better/20975/6 "2000-05-31T04:58:23Z")
Oops sorry for above typo… Swinging not Singing BSD = Big Swinging D\*\*k not Big “Singing” D\*\*k ---
**Author:** ![DRY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breeding-them-bigger-or-better/20975/7 "2000-05-31T08:29:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Oops sorry for above typo… > > Swinging not Singing > > BSD = Big Swinging D\*\*k > > not Big “Singing” D\*\*k > \*\* Talk about your “natural selection” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DVous\_Means](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@DVous\_Means](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DVous_Means)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breeding-them-bigger-or-better/20975/8 "2000-05-31T14:03:00Z")
**Madd1:** Haven’t we already got the largest dicks of all the primates? I mean, when measured in proportion to total body size, the gorilla really has a weenie compared to the slut you’re sporting. It’s also the same for the girls: humans have the largest mammary glands, which are permanently in the same state of swelling that occurs only during sexual excitation or lactation in other primates. Methinks we humans have been unconsciously selecting for large pink bits ever since we came down from the trees. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breeding-them-bigger-or-better/20975/9 "2000-05-31T14:23:11Z")
Men have always hidden the goodies behind animal skins, furs, Levis, etc. so females CAN’T “select for” penis size (at least up until the sexually liberated latter half of the 20th century). ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breeding-them-bigger-or-better/20975/10 "2000-05-31T15:24:26Z")
The penis is simply the insertion tool. Chimpanzee testicles are much larger than human testicles on average so that a chimp can mate more often and when mating “drown” the sperm of the previous tenant with this own. This is related to fact that chimpanzee females can and will regularly mate with males other than alpha males if they are reasonably discreet. Gorillas groups are much more harem like in structure and gorillas enforce (and follow) alpha male only mating more strictly than chimps or humans hence the lack of need for more elaborate equipment. > [@](#): > > \*\* > **Madd1:** Haven’t we already got the largest dicks of all the primates? I mean, when measured in proportion to total body size, the gorilla really has a weenie compared to the slut you’re sporting. It’s also the same for the girls: humans have the largest mammary glands, which are permanently in the same state of swelling that occurs only during sexual excitation or lactation in other primates. > > Methinks we humans have been unconsciously selecting for large pink bits ever since we came down from the trees. > \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breeding-them-bigger-or-better/20975/11 "2000-05-31T18:42:47Z")
I’m just a guy, so I don’t know this for certain, but… I’m pretty sure that women don’t go around looking trying to breed with the man with the largest penis that they can find. Undoubtedly, there are a few freaky women who do seek out men with large members for casual sex. However, most evolutionary texts say, “A few freaky women do not represent the species as a whole.” I’m paraphrasing, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Drew\_Blade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/958977/32.png) [@Drew\_Blade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drew_Blade)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2000, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breeding-them-bigger-or-better/20975/12 "2000-06-01T03:15:12Z")
Do we know for sure whether the genes for size are passed on through the father? If the genes are passed through the mother (i.e. on the X chromosome rather than the Y), mating with a well-endowed man would not pass the genes on to his sons. Have there been any studies comparing fathers and sons in this matter?