Want Accurate Sex Information? Beware Some Social Media

In ancient Greece, the philosopher Socrates felt ambivalent about that new-fangled skill, literacy. He warned that writing might spread dangerous lies and lead to harm, physical or psychological. After Gutenberg invented the printing press, many lamented that printed material spread falsehoods far and wide. Today, it seems almost everyone rails against the avalanche of misinformation on the internet. All communications technologies are double-edged swords. They can inform or misinform—and mess with our minds.

We can’t stop the internet from presenting falsehoods. All we can do is warn of sites likely to spread misinformation. A recent study by researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine shows that if you’re interested in accurate male sexuality information, beware of TikTok and Instagram.

The Study

The investigators searched six terms on TikTok and Instagram: testosterone, vasectomy, male infertility, erectile dysfunction, Peyronie’s disease (possibly painful curvature of the penis), and semen retention (avoidance of non-procreative ejaculate, advocated by opponents of self-sexing). The six subjects attracted huge views, 2.3 billion (with a “b”) on TikTok and 3.1 million on Instagram. Then, for each topic, the researchers assessed the validity of the top 10 hashtags using a five-point scale, with “1” indicating completely inaccurate and “5” completely accurate. Across all subjects, accuracy averaged just 2.6, indicating approximately equal amounts of reliable and unreliable posts—the most reliable information concerned vasectomy—5.0. The least accurate information explored semen retention—1.5. The researchers concluded that five of the six subjects had low levels of validity: “Overall accuracy was poor.”

Viewers Skew Young and Naive

Almost three-quarters of Americans aged 17 to 29 (71 percent) regularly visit Instagram, which logs over 1 billion views monthly. Ditto for TikTok, now the world’s fastest-growing social media site. Almost one-third of its over 1 billion monthly users (28 percent) are under 18.

Many older teens and young adults are smart and shrewd, good at distinguishing facts from falsehoods. But many people of all ages, especially young people, fall prey to egregious lies, for example, ads for bogus, expensive penis-enlargement products. False sex information misleads and causes real harm.

The Covid pandemic boosted Americans’ use of social media. Compared with pre-Covid 2018, social media platforms have reported traffic jumping 40 to 70 percent.

What do you get when you combine massive and growing numbers of users, with many of them being young and naïve? A formula for spreading misinformation.

The Fallacy of Semen Retention

Among the six topics the researchers tracked, one amassed by far the most views: semen retention, the idea that ejaculation, especially from self-sexing to pornography, depletes men’s “vital energy.” Semen retention attracted 53 percent of all views on TikTok and 35 percent on Instagram, more than 1.2 billion total views. However, the information about semen retention was the least scientifically credible, with around two-thirds of assertions unsupported by science. The fact is, men’s bodies evolved to be able to ejaculate regularly, even daily or more, without causing any residual harm.

Advocacy of semen retention dates back to ancient China and has remained a minor undercurrent in men’s sexuality ever since. During the 20^th century, its chief advocates were athletic coaches, who told their players that any sex before games reduced their fitness, aggressiveness, and will to win.

Semen retention’s current incarnation dates to 2004, when a bodybuilding site challenged its audience to abstain from self-sexing (“fapping”), especially pornography, for 49 days. Since then, with a rallying cry of NoFap, the idea has trended across the internet, primarily on Reddit (r/NoFap), attracting legions of adherents. Their stated mission: “Absolutely no fapping, no self-pleasure at all.”

NoFappers insist that refraining from ejaculation bolsters men’s vitality increases testosterone, and enhances masculinity. There is no scientific basis for any of these assertions.

Ejaculation does not deplete testosterone. Recently, German researchers showed that self-sexing or partner sex to orgasm/ejaculation increases it.

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Many athletes have ejaculated the night before contests and emerged victorious. Olympic long jumper Bob Beamon typically abstained the night before but broke his rule before the 1968 Olympics. The next morning, he set a world record. Basketball great Wilt Chamberlain said he had his 100-point game a few hours after sex. And the Minnesota Vikings coaches separated players from their mates the night before the team’s four Super Bowls. Their record: 0-4.

Researchers at Cal State San Marcos tested a dozen male athletes’ leg strength before and shortly after sex and found no significant differences. Ejaculation in no way depletes men’s vitality.

What athletes need before contests is not abstinence but rest—and sex can help. Former champion triathlete Bob Arnot, M.D., always had sex the night before triathlons. It helped him sleep.

TikTok, Instagram, and the broader internet abound with misinformation about so many subjects, with sexuality high on the list.

This study involved men’s issues. But there’s every reason to believe that information about women is equally likely to be misleading.

How to Distinguish

Misinformation can fool anyone. Here are a few ways to avoid it:

• Look for credible sources. For sex information, look for articles in medical or sexological journals. Beware of anonymous sources and articles that cite unnamed “experts.”

• Look for multiple large studies. One small study may be a poor-quality outlier. Look for several studies with many participants that come to the same conclusion.

• Beware of breathless rants studded with exclamation points. Why have scientists ignored these facts?!!!

• Don’t share, forward, or repost anything without fact-checking it first.

• Consider the story’s agenda. It’s fine to have a point of view—I have one here—but beware of posts that play to emotions instead of reason.

• Beware of echo chambers. Search engine algorithms feed users more of whatever they click on. If you click on misinformation, you will likely get more of it. Refer to the suggestions above.