Seeing as I don’t have a vagina, I can’t say I’ve had the same fears as Rihanna. When interviewed by Miranda July for the New York Times in October the superstar confessed she fears having a deep vagina. Quite an odd thing to admit in an interview, especially when you’re renowned for being media-shy.

But far from being a flash-in-the-pan question, Rihanna’s vulnerability has left the world deep in thought. How deep actually is a vagina?

Let us start with research from Columbia, which suggests average vagina depth is 3-4 inches. But surely if penises vary in length, then so do vaginas? Dr. Justin Lehmiller‘s blog frequently addresses pressing questions such as this one, and of course we’d be mad not to listen to his conclusions when it comes to the humble V.

 Handily Lehmiller can point us to studies that have already been done. In 1966, the book Human Sexual Response examined 100 women and took an average length, in various states of arousal. They ranged from 2.8-3.1 inches unaroused, 3.7-4.1 inches when aroused, and 4.3-4.7 inches when aroused and with a speculum inserted.

So one size clearly doesn’t fit all.

If you’re worried that the data is outdated however, then let us fast-forward to 1996. In a study into Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation researchers took vinyl polysiloxane casts of the vaginas of 39 Caucasian women. Now that sounds like an interesting job doesn’t it?

The results? Researchers discovered an average length of 2.7-5.8 inches. Rest easy Rihanna, unless you get a rude boy with a massive penis, he probably won’t notice your deep vagina.