Finally, a study which may lay to rest some of the lingering fallacies about penis size and alleviate the woes shared by many men worldwide. According to new research, the average erect penis length is just over 13 centimeters, or around 5 inches. Furthermore, there’s no strong association between foot size and penis length, so women can stop judging men by the size of their shoes. You can read the entire study in BJU International.

Although many compare themselves to the “average” penis size, what this figure actually is has been surprisingly difficult to determine. As pointed out by Science, that’s mainly because most studies have relied on self-reporting, which isn’t very accurate. To get around this problem and obtain a more reliable data set, a team of U.K. researchers decided to compile measurements taken by health professionals who followed a standardized measuring procedure. They included both girth (the circumference at the base or the middle) and length (pubic bone to the tip of the glans) measurements from 20 different studies, which totaled 15,521 men from various countries across the world. And the results will be music to the ears of many.

The average flaccid penis was found to be 9.16 cm (3.61 inches) long, whereas the average erect penis is 13.12 cm (5.16 inches) in length. In terms of girth, the average circumference of a flaccid penis turned out to be 9.31 cm (3.66 inches), and 11.66 cm (4.59 inches) for an erect one. Furthermore, those at extreme ends of the spectrum were found to be much less common. For example, only 5 men out of every 100 have an erect penis longer than 16 cm (6.3 inches).

When they looked for correlations with other body features, such as testicular size, weight or foot size, no strong or consistent associations were found. Although they couldn’t find any significant evidence for a relationship between penis size and race, they note that conclusions can’t be drawn since the vast majority of measurements were from Caucasians.

So what’s the take home message? Men, don’t be so hard on yourself as what you see on the TV or in magazines is not an accurate representation of the average penis. But if you’re concerned, make sure you’re measuring correctly.