A viral blog post claims that walking barefoot may increase the size of a man’s genital.
The report, published on June 3, 2020 on Globalnea.com, has been shared severally on social media including Facebook, Twitter and many WhatsApp groups.
It has also been reposted by a number of other blogs from Ghana, Uganda, and Nigeria etc, including ihlayanews.com, GbetuTV.com, Gistvic.com, Naijapledge.com, Spyuganda.com, naijanewspapers.com.ng and Hypercitigh.com, among others.
THE CLAIM:
That walking barefoot can increase the size of a man’s genital.
THE FINDINGS:
The report which started with a question “Did you know that simply taking your time to walk barefooted can significantly increase the size of your p***s (man’s genital)?” did not provide any verifiable medical and scientific sources for the information it presented.
It, however, made vague attributions to “Canadian researchers who spent two years in the Democratic Republic of Congo trying to bust the myth of natural p***s (man’s genital) enlargement went back home with newfound length and girth”.
The report went on to categorically state that “Yes, walking on the natural ground with your bare feet for thirty minutes a day would give you one inch per year ballpark.”
Findings by the FactCheckHub revealed that the claim is not supported by any medical or well-studied scientific research.
Contrary to the blog’s claim, the parents’ genes play significant roles in the formation of a person’s male member since it is genetic, Adrienne Santos-Longhurst wrote in an article published by healthline.com.
“People assigned male at birth (AMAB) inherit the Y chromosome from a parent who was born with a p***s (man’s genital), just like people assigned female at birth (AFAB) inherit the X chromosome from a parent who was born with a vulva,” she said.
She added that “Hormones play a role in your p***s (man’s genital) size from the start. Androgens determine p***s (man’s genital) size during early foetal development. Throughout puberty, testosterone and growth hormone regulate p***s (man’s genital) growth, including length and girth.”
A study also finds the average growth rate of the male genitalia to be less than half an inch per year from ages 11 to 15, adding that they do the most growing during puberty, but puberty and p***s (man’s genital) growth happen at different times and speeds for everyone.
“Typically, your dong’s as long as it’s going to get by the age of 18 or 19, and it reaches maximum girthy-ness shortly thereafter.
“For some, the p***s (man’s genital) can stop growing a year or two later than that, depending on when puberty starts. For reference, puberty usually begins between the ages of 9 and 14 and lasts up to 5 years or so,” Santos-Longhurst said, adding that there’s nothing a man can do to make his genital grow bigger or smaller, aside from surgery.
Similarly, Jerry Kennard, PhD, a psychologist and associate fellow of the British Psychological Society, in an article warned that men should be wary of exercises claiming to increase penis size.
“Because there are no muscles involved, there are no exercises able to build either the p***s’ (man’s genital) girth or length,” Dr. Kennard wrote on a medical blog.
He also corroborated Santos-Longhurst’s view, noting that: “P***s (man’s genital) growth is influenced by the hormones of puberty. As such, the p***s (man’s genital) begins to grow more rapidly than usual between ages 10 and 14 and can continue to grow until ages 16 to 21.”
“Many young men become concerned or self-conscious about p***s (man’s genital) size during adolescence, but the vast majority reach a completely normal p***s (man’s genital) size by the late teen years,” Dr, Kennard noted.
In a telephone chat with the FactCheckHub, Dr. Obi Okechukwu (MBBS ABUAD), a Medical Officer at the Chiver Specialist Hospital & Urology Centre, Abuja in Nigeria said the claim should be disregarded.
“I think that’s built on ignorance and it should be disregarded. I’ve never seen that in any textbook or any journal. The size of p***s (man’s genital) is determined by several things but definitely not walking barefooted. One of them is race and genetics; and the size of a father’s p***s (man’s genital) will affect the size of the child’s own.
“Then, there are some other things like the maternal estrogen level; for instance, if the child is exposed to excessive estrogene level, it may shrink the size of his p***s (man’s genital) and caused reduced differentiation. So, if a male child is exposed to excessive estrogene level, the p***s (man’s genital) might not develop as it should,” Dr. Okechukwu said.
Also speaking with the FactCheckHub, Dr. Bolaji Ahmed, a Medical Advisor with the Damien Foundation, Nigeria, opined that the claim is untrue.
“Not true. There is no correlation between walking on bare feet and the size of the p***s (man’s genital). There is no known study at the moment that states that walking on bare feet will increase the size of the p***s (man’s genital),” he said.
THE VERDICT:
From all information available, the claim that walking barefoot can increase the size of a man’s genital is FALSE.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
The word p***s has been replaced with man’s genital all through the report; whereas, wherever it appeared in a quote, its three middle letters have been replaced with *asterisks to comply with Google’s standard.
Opeyemi Kehinde is a Professional Fact-Checker, Multimedia Journalist, and Editor of the FactCheckHub.