India’s men come up short in condom study
Dec. 8, 2006. 12:24 PM
REUTERS NEWS AGENCY
NEW DELHI — Condoms designed to meet international size specifications are too big for many Indian men as their penises fall short of what manufacturers had anticipated, an Indian study has found.
The Indian Council of Medical Research, a leading state-run centre, said its initial findings from a two-year study showed 60 per cent of men in the financial capital Mumbai had penises about 2.4 cm shorter than those condoms catered for.
For a further 30 per cent, the difference was at least 5 cm. A poor fit meant the prophylactics often didn’t do the job they were bought for, and led to some tearing or slipping off during use.
“One of the reasons for a failure of up to 20 per cent (of condoms) is the association of the size of the condom to the erect penis,” the council’s Dr. Chander Puri told Reuters, adding another reason was couples often put them on in a hurry.
Puri said many men in India, which has the world’s highest HIV positive caseload, were too shy to ask for condoms.
“We need more vending machines for condoms of different sizes so people can pick a condom with confidence that is suited to their needs,” he said.
The Times of India reported the ICMR survey had studied 1,400 men between 18-50 years of age in cities like Mumbai and New Delhi as well as in rural areas in a report. It entitled its story “Indian men don’t measure up.”
Okay, I don’t understand why there’s got to be sucking involved with the short penes, but at least this cite gives some numbers. Of course, those numbers don’t make sense:
Okay, 60% are shorter than the condoms. If the standard condom is sized for the average man, then only 50% should be shorter than the condoms. 10% off (by > 2.4 cm) isn’t too bad.
But then, it’s a “further” 30% – is that 30% of the 60% were > 5 cm (and, hence, also > 2.4 cm) shorter? (18% 5 cm short, 42% 2.4 cm short) Or is it 30% were > 5 cm shorter in addition to the 60% that were 2.4 cm shorter?
Now, only 20% of the condoms are failing because they’re too big. It would be nice to know how much shorter the penes must be for the condoms to fail.
But it rather doesn’t matter, because “many men in India” won’t use condoms in the first place – so their sampling method would seem to be non-representative of the general population to begin with.