When Spanish pop star Enrique Iglesias announced at a concert that there was one thing he’d like to change about himself – ‘I have the smallest Penis in the world’ – he exposed himself to a lifetime of ridicule. But many people admire him for publicly airing a problem that millions of men find excruciatingly humiliating. And it highlighted the fact that no matter how many women say that size doesn’t matter, it will always be important to men who think that their appendage is small.

Apart from a small minority who know their Penises are far larger than average, men have fragile egos when it comes to the size of their genitalia. Some, if asked, may even echo Enrique Iglesias’ complaint. Indeed, men with small penises are so embarrassed by their problem that it can have a severe impact on their psychological outlook.

The question of whether or not size matters can be rephrased into three separate questions: Does it matter to women? Does it matter with respect to the fertilization of the egg? And what do men make of it? These questions all have different answers.

Women are usually the first to maintain that size is largely irrelevant. Many are perplexed by men’s obsession with the subject, and can’t understand why a man with a small penis would care what others think.

Some women admit that size does play a role in pleasure during sex, but maintain that this cuts both ways because a large penis can cause pain and make sex uncomfortable. In addition, some women think that men with large penises tend to be over-confident in bed, and display little of the effort or passion shown by their smaller brethren.

A small minority of women are what is known as ‘size queens’; they regard any man with an erect penis smaller than, say, 6 or 7 inches, as inferior. These women, whose posts can be found on any cursory trawl through the Internet, are particularly vocal but nonetheless do not appear to represent the majority of women.

Does size matter with respect to the fertilization of the ovum? This question is far easier to answer: no, it doesn’t. The fact is that as long as a man can ejaculate, he is capable of impregnating a woman. In fact, even an erection isn’t required for impregnation, although it is preferable. Penis size is almost irrelevant with respect to fertilization; the reason our penises are much bigger than they need to be is found in evolution.

Man is closely related to the chimpanzee and scientists have discovered that both species’ penises are disproportionately large. Research suggests that early man, like the chimp, enjoyed unlimited sexual freedom. Females mated with as many men as they could, and it was the man with the largest penis who usually ended up fertilizing the egg. This led to an evolutionary development: men and chimps grew larger penises. Today, the size of a chimp’s penis is still important, but man’s conversion to monogamy means the size of our appendages makes little difference in the bedroom.

Try telling that to the millions of men who have what they consider to be a small penis. The humiliation they feel can have a devastating effect on their self-esteem and their relationships. Embarrassment derives from two quarters: first, a man with a small penis may feel that he isn’t as masculine or virile as his peers. This will be keenly felt when he is naked in their presence, such as in the men’s locker room, where other men’s sniggers will reinforce his inferiority complex.

Second, a man who has a small penis may avoid becoming sexually involved with a woman for fear of her reaction to his size. In addition, he may be wary that his fear will lead to an inadequate sexual performance, or even impotence. While it’s true that many (perhaps the majority of) women, would overlook a smaller-than-average penis if they loved the man to whom that penis is attached, many men nonetheless allow their anxieties to get the better of them.

Not all men are as eager as Enrique Iglesias to publicly air their concerns, either. In 2010, Rolando Negrin, a screener at Miami’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA), was outraged when colleagues belittled him over the size of his penis, which they spotted during trials of the TSA’s full body image scanners.

Negrin (46) was arrested after using an expandable police baton to beat up one of his chief tormentor in an airport parking lot. As part of a settlement agreement, he consented to attend anger management classes, write a letter of apology, perform 50 hours of community service and donate $100 to a charity.

Like Iglesias, Negrin has joined a painfully small club of men whose penis size has become the topic of much public glee. Their experience is all the evidence anyone needs that, for some people at least, penis size matters very much indeed.

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