AT least since high-speed Internet began, erectile dysfunction (ED) can be something quite more mysterious than the Stonehenge and UFOs.
While old men can simply shrug it off as a long-lost glory, starting their sentences with “in my time,” young men, or those who swear they’re in their sexual heydays, cannot take it easy over uncooperative bananas.
For it is a truth universally acknowledged that your boy toy has no purpose other than spew liquid and go hard. Now what if men accustomed to having a titanium-reinforced hard-on, flapping before a gyrating Sasha Grey onscreen, don’t get the same mojo as when they meet an actual pussycat?
That can be tragic, not just for you, but your partner.
Were the sex and fertility gods having a bad hair day? Was it the bad karma your old-maid teacher was talking about when you called her hemorrhoid? Scientists think they have an answer.
‘The Great Porn Experiment’
WHILE it should be a sign of a healthy libido, a survey by the Italian Society of Andrology and Sexual Medicine (ISASM) suggests that, in fact, “Internet-porn is killing young men’s sexual performance.”
In his TED talk titled “The Great Porn Experiment,” clinical psychologist Dr. Gary Wilson says Internet porn-induced arousal addiction, like any other addiction, makes things other than watching porn (be it real sex) all so boring.
And, contrary to one would hysterically assume, the problem is not psychological, as psychiatrist Dr. Mariano Gagui says arousal addiction from having sex with a screen is not yet in the “books.”
“[The problem are no less than] the physical changes in the brain, those addiction-related changes. [The porn addicts’] numbed brains are sending weaker and weaker signals to their bananas,” Wilson says.
Those structural brain changes, Wilson further explains, are caused by a buildup in the frontal cortex of Delta-FosB, a “molecular switch” brought about by the overproduction of neurochemical dopamine.
Excess dopamine, in this case, is both the cause and effect of the cycle of binging and craving for porn that, as Wilson pointed out, “has the most potential to become addictive of all activities on the Internet, not because of nudity, but of constant novelty.”
If the binging continues, the accumulation of Delta-FosB will override the brain’s natural cessation process, eroding willpower in the user and inducing hyper reactivity to porn.
“It starts with a lower reaction to porn sites. Then there is a general drop in libido, and, in the end, it becomes impossible to get an erection,” says Dr. Carlo Foresta, head of ISASM. These, along with performance anxiety and numbed pleasure response that, perhaps, are more embarrassing for alpha men than a teeny-weeny.
How can one get his sexy back?
WILSON says young men are the sorriest subjects of this God’s corniest punchline.
“Guys, in their early 20s, aren’t regaining their sexual health as quickly as older guys. The answer? Even though older guys have been using porn a whole lot longer, they didn’t start on today’s Internet porn.”
Wilson argues that it’s a key variable because older guys didn’t start having sexual problems until they’ve got high-speed Internet. “Today’s young teens start on high-speed Internet when their brains are at their peak dopamine production and neuroplasticity—when they are most vulnerable to addiction.
“This can cause panic if the guy has escalated to extreme porn, or porn that no longer matches his sexual orientation.” Wilson says. “Fortunately, brains are plastic so his taste can revert once he quits porn.”
Filipinos in the scheme of things
LIKE being known for Manny Pacquiao and our Miss Universe contenders, the Philippines is famous for its Internet-porn users, as per figures by Pornhub.com, ranking No. 19 (a shy of only four points next to Japan, which, at No. 15, is home to Her Yumminess Maria Ozawa and where porn is as major a production as the sale of school girls’ used underwear).
While that’s a sheer feat, it may also be worth noting that, commensurate to that ranking, chances are Filipinos are among the many sufferers of Internet porn-induced ED.
Notwithstanding any survey among young Filipinos yet, an uncooperative banana is no idle threat. It poses more serious problems than the ISIS, such as depression, ADHD and social anxiety. Either we get laid tonight or get the most out of our sexually outrageous youth by going out on a Sunday morning to smell the flowers–real flowers — because life is all about flowers and pheromones and touch and the celebration of the sensuality of a real human body. And sex, like any other social interaction made touchscreen and ice-cold by our digitally wired lives, is a physical thing.
“Engage in sex,” Gagui says. Porn is just an outlet, not a substitute.
Image credits: KC Niña Pusing
2 comments
This article is quite badly written – studded with grammatical errors, mixed metaphors and odd phrasing.
And really, a “it poses more serious problems than ISIS”??
Business Mirror, please screen and/or edit such “special reports” better.
I think there are no problem with regards to this article . the author or writer just want to express that everyone should be aware of the negative effects of sex and how the early pregnancy and marriage be under control…