
Is porn making young men impotent? - drugme
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/mar/11/young-men-porn-induced-erectile-dysfunction
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dontreact
Fully quitting porn has had a tremendous positive impact in my life. But it
was extremely difficult to do it. I’ve found a group of people to help and
support me through this and our experiences are fairly similar.

I would say that anyone who thinks porn isn’t affecting them should try to
quit fully for a few months and see. It costs nothing, and you might find out
that you have less control than you thought. The effects can be more subtle
than what is mentioned in this article: for example constantly craving for
novelty despite being in a good relationship with someone you love.

~~~
hnthrowaway543
How did you quit? I just can't seem to do it for long :(

~~~
NavyNuke
Every time you feel like looking at porn, do 25 push ups.

~~~
dontreact
Have you been successful with this? I think there is a real need to go much
deeper psychologically into figuring out why you are drawn to it, what needs
it fulfills and how to fulfill those needs in healthier ways. That plus
vigorously pursuing a set of goals.

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JohnJamesRambo
Isn't it much more likely the marked decline in testosterone is to blame?

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17062768](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17062768)

Relevant Image: [https://cdn-
images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*n6SXZ6_p4vX9sprDI...](https://cdn-
images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*n6SXZ6_p4vX9sprDI1UdUQ.jpeg)

A man in the 1980s had a testosterone level of around 525, that level is now
getting into the 400s, this is a massive change in the hormone that is
responsible for sex drive, etc.

~~~
jasonbarrah
My money is still on cell phones radiation from the front pocket.

~~~
partiallypro
I'm betting it's more from change of diet and physical activity. Increased
exercise or just walking will increase your testosterone levels (in men.)

~~~
wallace_f
There is so much shit (literally) in our water and food supply. But also birth
control, opioids, microplastics, you-name-it. Seattle mussels test positive
for opioids(1). Chemicals leech from plastics. America has mass-scale
addiction to prescription drugs. Pollution is everywhere the world.
Neurotoxins are household gardening or anti-pest remedies.

Livestock have also shifted from grazing to eating soy- or corn-based
products. Fish are more-likely to be farmed.

Nobody knows what the true long-term consequences of this are.

I think people would also be surprised to see what happens on farms. Seeing
chickens and pigs eat mice and rats while knowing how much garbage and
neurotoxins are laid out for those pests--they end up inside humans.

1-[https://www.livescience.com/62667-puget-sound-mussels-
opioid...](https://www.livescience.com/62667-puget-sound-mussels-opioids.html)

~~~
adrianN
Things testing positive for opioids is more of an artifact of how sensitive
these tests are. You would also test positive after eating a poppy bagel.

------
josefresco
From the linked study:

"While non-organic sexual dysfunctions have been presumed psychological in
origin, and therefore the province of mental health experts, the unexplained
sexual dysfunctions now rising sharply in young men (ED, difficulty orgasming,
low sexual desire) are, to the extent they are reversible by quitting Internet
pornography, not arising from “performance anxiety” (that is, psychosexual
dysfunction, ICD-9 code 302.7), although performance anxiety may certainly
accompany them."

It seems they fall short of saying porn is "making" these men impotent, but
rather that quitting porn does improve the situation.

~~~
HarryHirsch
Today's porn is just too crass to compete with real life. Hans Billian's oevre
was slightly silly, and Patricia Rhomberg could actually act, and nowadays
it's violent excess, and good sex isn't like that. No surprise that laying off
_BIG COCK DESTROYS ASIAN STEPSISTERS ANUS_ improves things.

~~~
yorwba
PornHub's statistics [1] don't really indicate that violent excess is all that
popular. Now lesbians, hentai and milfs are unlikely to feature in the average
male's sex life, and maybe that leads to unrealistic expectations, but it's
still far from violent.

[1] SFW, it's just a chart [https://cs.phncdn.com/insights-static/wp-
content/uploads/201...](https://cs.phncdn.com/insights-static/wp-
content/uploads/2018/11/1-pornhub-insights-2018-year-review-most-searched-
terms-2018.png)

~~~
floren
Here it is at imgur:
[https://i.imgur.com/sPG2575.png](https://i.imgur.com/sPG2575.png)

I rehosted it because the domain phncdn.com could get people in trouble at
some employers, even if the content is not pornographic.

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nate_meurer
Discussions around the negative effects of pornography are infected with
insufferable religious moralizing. Nevertheless there is some really
interesting and concerning evidence that porn is a uniquely addictive
behavior. A striking pop-sci illustration is at [1]. The source cited for this
graphic is pretty dodgy, but there's plenty of research out there that
supports the same conclusions. I like [2] for summaries and links to studies.

1 - [https://visual.ly/community/infographic/health/porn-
effects-...](https://visual.ly/community/infographic/health/porn-effects-
dopamine-levels)

2 - [https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/relevant-research-and-
articl...](https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/relevant-research-and-articles-
about-the-studies/)

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forgottenpass
Alternate hypothesis: We want the problem to be the porn, otherwise the issue
is societal. And that's terrifying because we would have no tools to
investigate or understand the problem (let alone fix it).

If stopping porn treats the symptoms though: phew, we can all sleep at night
knowing that there is nothing wrong with the way society collectively rears
children (through parents, school, "SFW" media) that leads to anything less
than healthy sexual relationships.

~~~
forgottenpass
Here's a more specific take in that vein. It's an interesting way of thinking
about the topic, even if it doesn't convince you of anything:
[https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2011/02/hes_just_not_that_in...](https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2011/02/hes_just_not_that_into_anyone.html)

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towaway1138
Came here for the dumpster fire, was not disappointed.

My own take: Erotica is a good thing to the degree that it takes the edge off
of libido. Being dragged around by your "little man" is a curse, and your life
will greatly improve once you figure out how to stop this (one way or
another).

Your first reaction to a naked woman should be "meh". It's only after you know
her well that it might be more.

------
hirundo
Is there a similar problem with romance novels, addicting women to the
domamine/norephinephrine rush, less interested in the local talent? Maybe we
can extend the issue to the whole hyper stimulated media saturated culture.

A paleo media diet may be the right direction. Confine ourselves mostly to the
nearest practical approximation of the info environment we evolved with, a
bubble of a few dozen people and the work that sustains us. That would result
in people with smaller lives, but maybe also healthier ones. But then people
inclined to believe this wouldn't be reading this.

~~~
ericmcer
I have always dreamed of doing this, but wouldn’t this also allow me to shut
out all the negative impacts my own existence is tied to? Like political and
environmental news? I think we all have a slight social responsibility to be
aware of the world around us.

~~~
lukifer
I forget where I heard this, but one approach is to simply lag behind the news
by a week or so, on the premise that anything meaningful to you as a
citizen/voter will continue to be relevant a week later. (Obviously there are
exceptions for policy makers, or when some news is otherwise salient to one's
profession.)

In practice, a significant portion of the news habit is a sort of FOMO, a
desire to be included in water-cooler conversations, complete with intelligent
opinions and "hot takes". Which is fine as far as it goes; but, it does come
at the cost of the emotional rollercoaster of a highly manipulative news cycle
(not to mention tribal battle lines[0]). Those who focus their water-cooler
game on relative trivialities like sports and pop culture might actually be on
to something.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE3j_RHkqJc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE3j_RHkqJc)

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g45y45
Nope, and this is part of the building case against Porn in the UK. Please
ignore the lies coming from the UK, this will only ramp up as the Porn Ban is
rolled out - that is correct, porn will be blocked by default in the UK.

~~~
g45y45
Downvoted. If you live in the UK, you will need to buy a 'perverts card' in
order to prove your age. This will of course lead building of biggest
Blackmail database outside of the Intelligence Community. Nothing could
possibly go wrong.

------
momentmaker
It's more the constant variety of HD porn that triggers the dopamine so much
that men built up such a high tolerance for the level of depravity. Sort of
like a drug addict.

And it all stems from the mind. Think about it. The trigger/need to watch porn
stems from the mind before the body responds with an erection.

The mind is a powerful tool which can be used for good or bad.

~~~
lukifer
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernormal_stimulus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernormal_stimulus)

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thegayngler
I think this is related to the foods we are eating. It does catch up with you.
Also exercise as well can help keep testosterone levels up.

~~~
bargl
I would agree that this probably is a variable, but I wouldn't dismiss the
effect of porn either.

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0x8BADF00D
> When he was 23, he said: “I tried to have sex with a beautiful girl, a woman
> I was extremely attracted to, and nothing happened. I couldn’t feel any
> physical arousal and couldn’t get the slightest bit of an erection.”

Could that be due to an entirely different reason? A gay man would react in
the same way, for example.

------
Cypher
I can't wait for their follow up article:

"Are eggs making young women fertile".

------
ratling
No. News at 11. Leno after. You won’t stay up for midnight at the Apollo.

~~~
tivert
> News at 11.

The saying is "film at 11."

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_at_11](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_at_11)

~~~
ratling
_shrug_ I’m quoting myself.

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vsviridov
Betteridge's law of headlines...

~~~
saberience
This isn't a cast iron law. There are many, many, 100's of examples even,
where this law isn't true.

~~~
yjftsjthsd-h
Sure, but as heuristics go, this one is pretty good.

------
m0skit0
My naive hypothesis is that health problems are only going to get worse
because we've killed the fundamental constant force of improvement in nature:
natural selection. Industrial countries people have way weaker health and more
health problems than countries with bad health and hygiene systems. I'm
definitely not advocating for a Social Darwinism but our genetics will only
get worse in the context of an ever changing ecosystem that surround us.
Sometimes we think we live in a bubble outside of the ecosystems but we don't.
If we don't find a solution for this we're definitely doomed.

~~~
maceurt
The fact that first world countries/ wealthy people are not having many kids
and that third world countries/ poor people are having a lot of kids is very
problematic. Natutal selection is seemingly going in the opposite direction to
were we want it.

Though to argue against this point, humans every year score on average better
than they did last year on old IQ tests. The size of human skulls and brains
are also increasing too, so natural selection may be working, just in a
different way than we would expect.

~~~
HappySweeney
> Though to argue against this point, humans every year score on average
> better than they did last year on old IQ tests

This is called the Flynn effect. It unfortunately peaked in the mid 80's, and
is now on a steady decline.

~~~
maceurt
Did not know that. It makes sense though, because a lot less people are
malnuiroshed than before.

