Generally speaking, there are two rings which fit on to the penis at the base and at the head, or glans. The base ring is usually the most rudimentary component as it simply serves as a buttress and guide ring; it is often made of plastic. Better manufacturers add value and sophistication to the base ring by using a moulded piece which conforms to the pelvic region around the base of the penis for added comfort, and they also allow for limited device rotation or inclination, again to better conform to the differing shapes of individuals’ penises.

The head assembly is also a ring, but is usually far more sophisticated. This section has the rather delicate task of holding the head of the penis as it is being gently pushed away from the body. As you may well imagine, prolonged use of alien objects around this very sensitive area of the penis can lead to severe irritation and discomfort. This is why the more serious market providers go to many lengths to reduce any associated trauma.

The head ring mainly consists of a semi-circular cradle on the ventral- or under-side of the glans, and a noose or strap which circles around the corona and is fastened to the cradle, thus holding the penis head in place. A layer of padding or foam is usually placed between the fastener and the glans to buffer the contact area.

Connecting the two rings are the longitudinal rods which are adjustable in two ways: the first adjustment is to conform to the length of the penis and is generally resolved by supplying rods of different lengths, or segments which can be added or subtracted to create the desired length; the second adjustment involves a fine-tuning mechanism to adjust the pressure exerted on the penis, this can be achieved via threaded sections which allow extension or contraction of the rods via axial rotation. The rods usually have springs in order to maintain a constant tractive force even after inevitable shifting and movement.

Perhaps the single most important aspect of penis extenders is their safety. While there have been cases reported of tissue damage and burst blood vessels, these are commonly associated with misuse and accidents. Penis extenders are static devices with no electrical or motorised components and users have absolutely no need to ingest dubious pills or syrups to induce penis augmentation.

Personal reasons for enlarging penises that are not so small as to warrant medical attention are more associated with psychological well-being and, apart from exaggerated and unreasonable cases, are quite valid. It is no coincidence that very few men talk about the harrowing experiences they have had in public, office and school urinals. Unlike women, men are generally forced to expose their penises to the curious eyes of onlookers and, while many readers may smirk, it can be so traumatic for some, that the effects are carried throughout the rest of their lives.

School urinals are especially disastrous, as penis sizes vary wildly according to children’s growth phases, and spectators, who are understandably still immature, can be particularly callous in their observations and their willingness to disseminate the news amongst their peers.

And then we come out of adolescence, shocked, scarred and afraid. By now we’ve heard countless rap heroes and heroines respectively recounting how big theirs is and how big they want it to be. And in the real world the average man’s penis is unlikely to be as big as they would like. But even if we have not been driven to insanity during the dark teenage years, and our now fully-developed frontal lobes equip us with the reason, perspective and proportion that comes with maturity, the desire for a larger penis does not wane.

The reasons behind this desire should, however, also come of age, so to speak. A bigger penis for a normal, well-balanced contributor to society should never be about wielding some kind of terrifying new weapon, or besting your peers with a sword they cannot hope to rival in length. In fact, a bigger penis shouldn’t really be about you at all, directly, that is. The real benefit from a larger penis is the added pleasure you can give your partner in the bedroom.

It is about shifting your attention away from whether or not they are feeling anything to when, how and where your partner gets worked up the most. A bigger penis can give you the confidence to take your sexual prowess to new levels and drive your partner to climax as many times as you, if not more. You won’t find real men measuring each other’s penises in the toilets, you’ll find them caressing their partners and asking what they liked and didn’t like, and what they would perhaps like to try next time. That is real love; that is real sex.

There is, therefore, no reason to believe that the body will not respond to continuous force applied to the penis by adding tissue and thus increase its overall size. There are many testimonials and manufacturer funded clinical tests to support this theory, and unless millions of people are lying or deluding themselves en masse, we have to believe there is some truth to the matter. When we filter out all of the hopelessly exaggerated claims and inevitable advertising fluff, what remains is the consistently recurring and reasonably tenable notion that a well-implemented regime with a legitimate extender will increment penis length by about one inch, or 2.5 cm.

Thankfully, we also have clinical medical trials adding much needed credence to this phenomenon. Perhaps the most important medical evidence comes from the 2008 trial conducted at the San Giovanni Battista Hospital, University of Turin, in Italy. This study tracked fifteen patients who applied the device for four hours per day over a six-month period. The patients’ penises were measured at regular intervals and the results demonstrated significant and permanent increases of “1.7 and 2.3 cm for the stretched and the flaccid length, respectively”.

The results of these tests were published in the May 2009 edition of the British Journal of Urology International and have been widely accepted by the medical community as preliminary evidence of the efficacy of penile elongation devices. It should be noted that, while some corresponding increase in girth, or penis width, was noted, it was not considered significant in proportion to the registered gains in length.

With so many interested parties in the penis enlargement industry, we can rest assured that more clinical testing and research will follow. We can, however, even now safely pronounce that not only is penile elongation possible, it can be achieved safely and easily and without the need for surgical intervention. The current devices on the market have about two decades’ worth of development behind them, so while on the one hand we can be confident that we are entering an arena where the products are quite mature in evolutionary terms and able to effectively address many, if not all, of the known side-effects associated with such treatment, there is no reason not to believe that further innovation cannot bear fruit to even more effective treatments.

Two similar but larger tissue regions known as corpus cavernosum run parallel along the top- or dorsal-side of the penis and surround the two principal arteries carrying blood into the penis. In effect, the corpus cavernosum are the sections which provide most of the blood and bulk to the penis during erection, and it is the magnitude of these very sections which we aim to increase in the pursuit of larger penises. As you may by now have realised, the penis is most certainly not a muscle, it consists, rather, of soft, spongy tissue much like our stomachs and other bodily organs. This basic fact means that no amount of exercise can increase the mass of the penis, as we might expect with our biceps or calves; if only it were that simple.

Men are therefore obliged to seek other avenues if they seek to increase the size of their penis. If we rule out surgery, and we really should, discount food supplements and the like, forget about exercises that can’t work, then we are left with penis extenders as the only logical solution. So, what happens when we subject our penises to controlled periods of tractive force? At the microscopic level, stretching causes minute lacerations in the tissue cells, which in turn provoke an automatic response from the body to generate new tissue in the region, effectively forcing the penis to grow. This process also promotes greater blood circulation in the area and the blood vessels increase in size to accommodate the added flow.

All of this makes for a longer and slightly wider penis. Users often also notice harder and longer-lasting erections after undertaking this form of treatment. It is important to remember that the key to proper use, and significant and sustained penis enlargement, is time. Penile elongation is an incremental process and users are required to wear the device for between four and six hours a day. Many manufacturers recommend two equal stints of two or three hours in the morning or during the day and the same in the evening or at night. There are, of course, certain factors to consider regarding work and lifestyle before implementing a convenient regime which can be repeated on a daily basis over a period of at least several months.

Manhood in this modern era, however, stands for something new; it is no longer about potency and domination. Manhood today is about the personal reward and satisfaction we feel when we are able to please our partners sexually. Making our more temperamental and sexually complex counterparts climax is no mean feat, and we can use all the help we can get.

Doing well in bed is important, it’s extremely important. There are always those who will come along and play down its significance, but as with all things in life, nothing confirms a rule better than an exception. Another simple rule of life is that you can’t do anything well without confidence. If a man isn’t sure his partner is enjoying the moment, then he won’t let his instinct take over and take the experience to new levels, which is the key to fabulous sex. Doing the same thing ad infinitum is not what is described as good sex. The same position, the same rhythm, the same rigmarole; they all spell death for a good sex life and while there is no rule saying that the man has to always take the initiative, it is generally one of those situations where women do not mind letting the man take control and transport them to ecstasy.

Some may cite a general lack in clinical evidence concerning the relationship between the size of a man’s penis and the derived sexual pleasure of his partner, but we all know there are few things less blatantly obvious. There can be no denying that the more contact a penis makes with the vaginal cavity of a woman, the more pleasurable it is for her, and if women haven’t been telling us for aeons that they prefer larger penises, then there is some serious social misconception going on. Penis extenders are confidence extenders; they don’t just make us have sex better, they make us walk, talk and sleep better.

The reasons for wanting a bigger penis can be dubious in many cases, and it’s perfectly understandable given the taboos and confusion men have to deal with, usually alone without any reference or feedback, through the most difficult and complex ages of their lives. It’s a facet of a man’s life that can generate as much torment as it can satisfaction. But from a Machiavellian perspective, there is really a tremendous amount of benefit we can reap from this possibly ill-conceived desire. We can give more, and when it comes to sex, it really is just as good, if not better, than getting more. Our overall happiness is like a check list of all the things we want and need in life. These lists, of course, vary from person to person, but if love and sex aren’t among the most fundamental tenets of a good life, then nothing is.