Why women may overestimate average penis size
I have a hypothesis that I haven't seen discussed much, and I'm curious whether there's any research on it.
Many surveys suggest that women tend to estimate the average penis size as being larger than it actually is. A common explanation is exposure to pornography, but I wonder if there's another factor that could contribute.
My idea is based on selection bias.
Men with very small penises or micropenises are, on average, more likely to experience body image issues and lower sexual confidence. If that's true, they may have fewer sexual partners over their lifetime.
On the other hand, men with larger-than-average penises often report feeling more confident about their bodies. Greater confidence could lead to more frequent sexual activity and a higher number of partners.
If both assumptions are even partially true, then the pool of men women are exposed to sexually would not be representative of the overall male population. Women wouldn't be sampling the true distribution - they would be sampling a distribution weighted toward men who have more sexual partners.
In other words, even if the biological average is around 5–5.5 inches erect, the experienced average from a woman's perspective could be somewhat higher simply because men with above-average confidence are overrepresented among sexually active partners.
This wouldn't require women to consciously exaggerate or remember incorrectly - it would just be a consequence of sampling bias.
Does anyone know of research that has tested this idea, or are there obvious flaws in the reasoning that I'm missing?