European Study Finds Connection Between Porn & Erectile Dysfunction
Does watching more porn lead to erectile dysfunction? A European survey presented on Thursday at the European Association of Urology believes there is a connection, UPI reports.
"We found that there was a highly significant relationship between time spent watching porn and increasing difficulty with erectile function with a partner," study co-author Gunter de Win, a professor at the University of Antwerp in Belgium, said in a statement.
The online survey of 118 questions was answered by 3,267 men who were sought through social media, posters and flyers. Amongst other topics, the men were asked about frequency of porn watching and sexual activity with partners, explained the researchers.
"The questionnaire concentrated on men who had had sex within the previous four weeks, which allowed the team to relate the effect of porn watching on sexual activity. The questionnaire incorporated questions from standard erectile function and sexual health surveys," reports the website Medical Express.
"We found that there was a big range of responses. In our sample, men watch quite a lot of porn, on average around 70 minutes per week, normally for between five and 15 minutes per time, with obviously some watching very little and some watching much, much more," de Win says in the Medical Express report.
It was a higher figure than the researchers expected. "We found that there was a highly significant relationship between time spent watching porn and increasing difficulty with erectile function with a partner, as indicated by the erectile function and sexual health scores. People who watch more porn also scored high on porn addiction scales."
While de Win acknowledged that his survey wasn't a clinical trial, only an online survey, he feels that the conclusions made by researchers are valid. "(I)t could be that the people who have responded are not completely representative of the whole male population. However, the work was designed to unpick any relationship between porn and erectile dysfunction, and given the large sample size, we can be pretty confident about the findings."
"There's no doubt that porn conditions the way we view sex; in our survey, only 65% of men felt that sex with a partner was more exciting than watching porn. In addition, 20% felt that they needed to watch more extreme porn to get the same level of arousal as previously. We believe that the erectile dysfunction problems associated with porn stem from this lack of arousal," deWin says.
Next steps, he says, include a similar survey of women and to identify factors that lead to erectile dysfunction. He also feels that doctors dealing with ED should ask patients about their porn use.
Two of de Win's colleagues who did not participate in the report commented on their findings, Newsweek reports.
Mieke Van Hemelrijck, a researcher of cancer epidemiology at King's College London, U.K., who co-authored a 2019 study on the global prevalence of ED told Newsweek "the study is hypothesis-generating, as it only looked at the participants at one point in time and considered one variable."
She added that while the study doesn't show that porn causes ED, "it provides insights that can inform future clinical studies to further evaluate this potential association."
And Professor Maarten Albersen, a urologist at the University of Leuven, Belgium, called the study interesting.
"The running hypothesis is that the type of porn watched may become more explicit over time and partner-sex may not lead to the same level of arousal as the pornographic material does."
"The study contributes to an ongoing debate on the topic. Experts have highlighted that porn may have both positive and negative effects, and could for example be used as an aid in the treatment of sexual dysfunctions, so this is a controversial area and the last words have not been said on this topic."