Is too much porn damaging your sex life?
By Will Stroude
Erectile dysfunction among men in their late teens and early 20s has risen over the past few years due to overexposure to pornography, according to psychosexual therapist, Angela Gregory.
Gregory states that the problem has become more pronounced in recent years due to the increasing accessibility of porn through laptops and smartphones.
“What I’ve seen over the last 16 years, particularly the last five years, is an increase in the amount of younger men being referred”, she tells BBC Newsbeat.
“Our experience is that historically men that were referred to our clinic with problems with erectile dysfunction were older men whose issues were related to diabetes, MS, cardio vascular disease.
“These younger men do not have organic disease, they’ve already been tested by their GP and everything is fine.”
She continues: “So one of the first assessment questions I’d always ask now is about pornography and masturbatory habit because that can be the cause of their issues about maintaining an erection with a partner.”
A recent study by gay men’s health charity GMFA into the porn habits of gay and bisexual found that 29% said they watch porn every day, while the majority (52%) said they watch it “a few times a week”.
A further 9% said they watched once a week, while 6% watched once a fortnight and 2% just once a month.
As to how long they watch porn during each ‘session’, most (40%) revealed they watch for 15 minutes or less, while 33% said they typically watch for 15-30 minutes.
20% said they usually watched porn for 30 minutes to an hour during any one sitting, while 4% said they watched for 1-3 hours at any one time.
A stamina-filled 3% said they watched porn for over 3 hours and beyond in any one go.
Gregory advises talking to your GP if you belief you have problems relating to your use of porn.
Words: Bryan Bernal
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