[fashion is danger]

A different take on the gay penis size study discussed during the show.

"Junk science" that could save lives - Sex News, Sex Talk - Salon.com

"But contrary to all of these reports, the NIH did not pay researchers to measure gay men's penis size. The data for the study -- 'The Association Between Penis Size and Sexual Health Among Men Who Have Sex with Men' -- were 'collected as part of a larger survey of the sexual health of gay men,' says researcher Jeffrey Parsons, a psychology professor at Hunter College. That survey was funded by the college's Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies and Training -- not the NIH. What's more, they didn't even measure men's penises: 'We simply asked men to self-report if they felt their penis was above average, average, or below average,' he tells me."

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"Christian Grov, one of the researchers, and an assistant professor at Brooklyn College, says they found that men who reported having above-average size penises were more likely to have sexually transmitted infections that are 'passed via skin-to-skin contact,' like genital warts and herpes. But this increased risk was not a result of lesser condom use. The team speculates that 'these men were experiencing improper condom fit (not being able to roll the condom all the way down), condom breakage, or irritation (caused by wearing a condom that may be too tight),' says Grov.

This has crucial implications for disease prevention and research. 'At the moment, the male latex condom is the best barrier to prevent transmitting HIV and STIs," he explains. 'Our findings suggest that the 'one size fits all' approach to condom distribution may not meet the needs of men who fall outside the range of the 'typical' condom.'"