# Larger Nippled Women **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371 "2004-02-26T23:24:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Achilles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dc4da7/32.png) [@Achilles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achilles)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/21 "2004-02-27T10:38:07Z")
> [@seaworthy](#): > > Damnit, my ruler only has inches and milimeters. I don’t do conversions, I’m American! So my areolas are 4 mm, or an inch and a half. And I’m a C/D. Oh, ok, that’s like 3.8 cm. Somebody please tell me this post is a fucking joke… Jesus H Christ ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/22 "2004-02-27T11:08:33Z")
> [@Who Stole My Name?](#): > > And almost the other half have nipples smaller than the average. > I hope you meant that as a witty joke. No, it was a titty joke. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/23 "2004-02-27T12:09:42Z")
Sorry, Larger Areolaed Women didn’t have the same ring 😉 And well, compared to breast size, I would say larger would be about half the breast. And no, I’m not talking after or during pregnancy. ---
**Author:** ![Thin\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Thin\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Ice)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/24 "2004-02-27T12:38:15Z")
Ladies, I’m not quite sure I understood your descriptions of your own breasts. Do you think you could post full color photos of your breasts, maybe with a ruler underneath for scale, so I, and any other confused posters, could more fully understand the size, proportion, and color differences. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/25 "2004-02-27T13:28:50Z")
Links!! Dammit, LINKS!!! ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/26 "2004-02-27T13:31:59Z")
> [@Achilles](#): > > Somebody please tell me this post is a fucking joke… > > Jesus H Christ I think she figured it out by herself. 38 millimeters… ---
**Author:** ![Achilles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dc4da7/32.png) [@Achilles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achilles)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/27 "2004-02-27T13:36:01Z")
> [@Uncommon Sense](#): > > I think she figured it out by herself. 38 millimeters… We can only hope. The whole “4mm” thing doesn’t inspire confidence though. Even if that wasn’t a mistake, you can hardly call dividing by 10, “conversion”. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/28 "2004-02-27T14:07:48Z")
Maybe people are just different, y’know? The same way noses and hands and feet and other things come in different shapes and sizes. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/29 "2004-02-27T15:10:04Z")
I have spent _years_ studying this very question. As a result, I have concluded that…I need to study it for a few more years!! 😃 The “pinkies v brownies” question has plagued Mankind for eons. It just boils down to personal preference, like hair color or eye color. Just don’t tell **pizzabrat.** He’d insist that anybody who prefered pinkies was a rascist! ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/30 "2004-02-27T15:56:24Z")
I live in the US, why should we know the conversion factor between millimeters and centimeters? ---
**Author:** ![Ad\_the\_Inhaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/34f0e0/32.png) [@Ad\_the\_Inhaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ad_the_Inhaler)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/31 "2004-02-27T16:22:24Z")
anybody feel like fielding the related question of “why do men have nipples?” if not, i understand, i would much rather stay on the female nipple topic as well… ---
**Author:** ![Thinks2Much](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Thinks2Much](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinks2Much)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/32 "2004-02-27T17:08:25Z")
I work for a company that makes breast pumps. We have various sizes of breast shields - the plastic recepticle thing placed over the breast to collect the milk - larger nipples need larger sizes and smaller nipples need smaller sizes. We have done research as to the statistical relationship of the sizes. I can’t seem to find it at the moment. However, our research is based on the diameter of the protruding part of the nipple, not the areola. The two are not necessarily related. (For example, I have larger diameter true nipples, versus smaller diameter areolas.) I do remember there were vague generalities that could be made along the lines of race: Women of African descent are more likely to have larger nipples and Asian women are more likely to have smaller ones. If you care about the true nipple size and not areola size, I will try harder to find our research results… if all you care about is areola, can’t help you. That size serves no function in lactation. ---
**Author:** ![Thinks2Much](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Thinks2Much](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinks2Much)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/33 "2004-02-27T17:11:42Z")
aswonke - the master speaks - [why do men have nipples?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_093.html) ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/34 "2004-02-27T17:43:44Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I have spent _years_ studying this very question. As a result, I have concluded that…I need to study it for a few more years!! 😃 > > The “pinkies v brownies” question has plagued Mankind for eons. It just boils down to personal preference, like hair color or eye color. Just don’t tell **pizzabrat.** He’d insist that anybody who prefered pinkies was a rascist! For me the issue is contrast. I find a brownie on an otherwise pink complexion a little creepy. It’s like a giant mole or something. One girlfriend told me she almost slept with a white guy who had, she swore, a blue cock, and just couldn’t go through with it (can you say “hand job”?). It wasn’t the deeply pigmented penis _per se_, it’s just who the penis happened to be dangling from. Things can’t be too incongruous for some folks. Chances are, dark brown nipples/areolas on lilly-white women is probably a major fetish for somebody. I bet you set up a web site and make a killing. Hmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Thinks2Much](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Thinks2Much](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinks2Much)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/35 "2004-02-27T18:07:09Z")
I found the layman’s summary of the research, in our newsletter we send out to customers. [article](http://www.medela.com/graphics/messpdf/MessengerFALL00.pdf) FYI - Our smallest shield is 21mm, average is 24mm, large is 27 mm, and extra large is 30mm. Please note that these are the diameter of the tubes on the shields- the nipples would need to be at least 3mm smaller than the tubes to use them comfortably. Again, this is nipple size, not areola. I looked at how well they sell. Only 4% in terms of quantity ask for the larger sizes (strictly US sales). You don’t get a different shield if you are too small for average - you just get an insert for the regular one, which we always sell with the average one, so it is hard to say how many women use them who receive them. This article says 15% of women are outside of the average range, so that would imply that 4% are larger and 11% are smaller. That would make sense based on the way we sell it, too. The only thing is that it is a relatively new product that we only market through certain channels, so that 4% is more likely to be lower than actual. In terms of circumstantial evidence, I would say my true nipples are 20mm and the areola is at most 0.8cm. The other factor you have not discussed is how much they protrude. Does that count towards being large or not? I am always told I have “big nipples” by those men who see them, but they are big because they stick out pretty far (and seem to always be at attention no matter what). By pretty far, in numbers I would say it is about 40mm. (Twice as far as they are wide) If you read the whole article, you will also see I stand corrected on my memory. Asian women have larger nipples on average as well. ---
**Author:** ![Thinks2Much](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Thinks2Much](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinks2Much)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/36 "2004-02-27T18:10:51Z")
oops - I meant 20mm out, not 40. (had to go check) about the same out as wide. That would be freaky! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![seaworthy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@seaworthy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seaworthy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/37 "2004-02-27T18:14:05Z")
> [@Achilles](#): > > Somebody please tell me this post is a fucking joke… > > Jesus H Christ Hey I was rather confused by this too, which is why I chose to convert the inches to cm and not the mm. If I could send you my ruler, I would. It has mm on one side, which is the abbreviation for milimeter, correct? And according to it, they’re almost 4 mm. That didn’t make any sense, though, because I knew I did the conversion to cm right, and I thought the whole “beauty” of the metric system was that it was based on 10. So I guess my ruler is inches and centimeters, it’s just labelled wrong. I’m so sorry I went by what the ruler said. I haven’t done anything with the metric system since I was in 6th grade, and assumed it was more likely that I forgot how to do it than my ruler be labelled wrong. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/38 "2004-02-27T18:51:12Z")
A centimeter is roughly the thickness of the end joint of your thumb from side to side, maybe a bit bigger. A millimeter, being a tenth as much, is only about as thick as the ink barrel that runs up the middle of a ball point pen, or the width of this asterisk:\* If you’ve got 5cm wide aureloa(e?), that means you’d just barely be able to cover them up with your palms. If you’ve got 5cm wide _nipples_…oy, that’s scary to contemplate. On the other hand, if you’ve got 4mm wide nipples, that seems like a reasonable size. If your aureola(e?) are 4mm wide, I may have you beat and I’ve got guy parts. Dunno if this helps or not. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/39 "2004-02-27T19:55:06Z")
> [@](#): > > If I could send you my ruler, I would. It has mm on one side, which is the abbreviation for milimeter, correct? And according to it, they’re almost 4 mm. That didn’t make any sense, though, because I knew I did the conversion to cm right, and I thought the whole “beauty” of the metric system was that it was based on 10. So I guess my ruler is inches and centimeters, it’s just labelled wrong. > > I’m so sorry I went by what the ruler said. I haven’t done anything with the metric system since I was in 6th grade, and assumed it was more likely that I forgot how to do it than my ruler be labelled wrong. I don’t think your ruler is labeled wrong. What is the smallest unit marked on the metric side? I bet it’s millimetres. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371/40 "2004-02-27T19:58:41Z")
Not sure if we established the actual averages previously in the thread, but if not, then from this site (NOT really workplace friendly) [Sexual Averages](http://www.sexualrecords.com/WSRaverages.html) , they are given as: Average Nipple Size (female): 0.27 inches (6.79 mm) Average Areola Size (female): 1.4 inches (35.62 mm). Also, for those interested, the average male nipple Size is 5.5 mm. I also learned that there is Nipple Reduction (NOT Breast, Nipple) cosmetic surgery, as evidenced on this doctor’s website (Definitely NOT workplace friendly, and not erotic either (well, at least not the before shots)): [Thomas M. DeWire, Sr., MD: Nipple Reduction Body Contouring page](http://www.advanced-art.com/Breast-Nipple-Reduction.htm) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larger-nippled-women/231371.md?page=3)