Question about porn

[contemplation]

Uh... hi. It's been a while since I've posted on here, I've just kind of lurked.

I've always had this sneaking worry that porn can induce erectile dysfunction in males.
Is this... true at all?

[Heather]

Hi there.

So, that's a tricky question for a couple reasons. For one, the whole framework of "erectile dysfunction" is a bit iffy, simply because there's no right amount of times anyone is supposed to become erect, nor any universal "right" conditions. Erections -- when they happen, how, how often, in what circumstances, how long they stick around -- is diverse. That framework suggests differently. Get what I'm saying?

Porn in something that people also have diverse relationships with, and that doesn't have a unilateral effect on everyone's sexual response or any other part of their sexuality. By all means, some people find it is something that has negative impacts for them, just like some people find the opposite, and loads of people are somewhere in between.

[Jacob]

Hi Contemplation!

Thanks for asking this question, it's a good one!

My answer is really similar to Heathers:

There is probably some statistical study that links the two, but I don't think there is anything that proves that one leads to the other. But I've heard this said a lot, and as far as I can tell the causation part is a myth

There are a lot of factors that are piled into the term 'erectile dysfunction' which can confuse things too!

Sometimes there are people who may have blood conditions that lead to difficulty managing erections. As you can imagine that has no connection with porn! With age, people's hormones and circulation changes so that ability to get errections changes over time... this isn't a dysfunction, it is just something that happens, and again it has nothing to do with porn. 'Erectile dysfunction' also gets used very often to describe almost any situation where someone's emotional state and pyschological state interracts with their physical state so that their state of arousal just really struggles to match up with their desire to get an errection at that particular time.

Nerves, trauma, mental health and stress are all going to play into that, and for most of us erections will be different in some way from what we're expecting. There is no 'right' way to have erections.

My sneaking suspicion this is pseudoscience used to scare boys from porn because 'erections' are held up as a proof of masculinity. I tend to file it as a version of 'masturbation will turn you blind' and other myths. There are many things to criticise about the porn industry and many pieces of sexual media but I don't think this is one of them!

[contemplation]

I'm so sorry for the late response! Thank you so much for your answers. I really do appreciate it.