Evidence Mounts That Porn Doesn't Cause Erectile Dysfunction

Porn critics contend that as men’s pornography viewing increases, so does their risk of erectile dysfunction (ED). The anti-porn site, YourBrainOnPorn, notes “a correlation between pornography consumption and erectile dysfunction that suggests causation.” That message has gone viral. On the Q&A site I publish, many anguished men have asked questions that go something like: “I self-pleasure to porn, then afterward, I can’t get it up. Porn has destroyed my erections. Help!”

Actually, three recent studies show strong evidence that porn does not cause ED. There are better explanations why some men have difficulty raising erections after viewing.

Three Studies Agree: Porn Does Not Cause ED

In the first study, Bowling Green (Ohio) State University investigators analyzed porn watching and ED risk among a representative sample of 877 men, age 18 to 60. The researchers found “no evidence that mere pornography use is associated with changes in erection function. Sexually active men who consume pornography showed very high levels of erection function. ED was rare. Our findings run counter to the popular narrative suggesting that pornography is driving an epidemic of ED.”

In another study, Indiana University researchers interviewed 211 men to gauge their sexual frequency. Eighty-one—38 percent—were highly sexually active, reporting sexual frequencies some might call “hypersexual.” Then the researchers wired the men’s penises and showed them porn. They had no problem raising erections while viewing it.

In the final study, researchers at UCLA and Concordia University in Montreal asked 280 men (127 in relationships) to keep diaries of their porn viewing for several months. The men reported a broad range of porn watching, from very little to 25 hours per week. The researchers then surveyed their erection function. They found “no relationship between viewing sex films and erectile dysfunction.”

In addition, critics charge that viewing porn desensitizes men to depictions of conventional sex and pushes them to more “extreme” porn, for example, BDSM, group sex, and gangbangs. The researchers found no desensitization, and no trend toward viewing less conventional sex. The men who watched the most porn and the wildest porn had no difficulty becoming aroused by watching one lone couple doing it in the missionary position.

The Three Reasons Men Mistakenly Think Porn Causes ED

If porn doesn’t cause ED, what does? When men have trouble raising erections after viewing, the real reasons usually involve alcohol, sex-negative upbringing, and/or the refractory period:

• Alcohol and other drugs. Alcohol is the world’s leading cause of drug-related sexual impairment. As Shakespeare wrote in Macbeth, alcohol “provokes the desire, but takes away the performance.” The first drink is disinhibiting. Prospective lovers are easier to coax into bed. But if people of average weight drink more than two beers, cocktails, or glasses of wine in an hour or so, alcohol becomes a central nervous system depressant that interferes with erection in men (and sexual responsiveness in all genders). Meanwhile, many people lose their virginity while drunk, and then continue to mix booze and sex, including while self-sexing to porn. Try solo sex sober. You’ll probably experience much less difficulty raising erections—even if you watch lots of porn. Other drugs may also contribute to ED. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if any of the medications you take are among them.
• Sex-negative upbringing. In the Bowling Green study, a small number of men reported both frequent porn watching and ED. Those men all had one thing in common. They’d been raised to believe that solo sex—especially to porn—is wrong, immoral, or sinful. Such beliefs often cause considerable emotional distress. That distress triggers the release of the stress hormone, cortisol. It narrows the penile arteries, reducing blood flow into the penis. Less blood in the penis means more trouble raising erections. When sex therapists reassure men raised in sex-negative homes or religions that virtually all men masturbate to porn, that it’s perfectly normal and won’t harm them, men with stress-related ED usually relax. Their penile blood flow returns to normal. And they recover their erection function—even as they continue to self-sex to porn.
• Refractory period. With or without porn, after solo or partnered orgasm/ejaculation, men enter what sexologists call the “refractory period” (RP), a length of time during which they can’t raise erections. RPs vary with age. It may take teenage boys only a few minutes to raise subsequent erections. But as men grow older, RPs extend to several hours, and among men over 60, sometimes more than 12 hours. It’s neither masturbation nor porn that causes this, but the physiology of men’s normal sexual response cycle. Many men who mistakenly complain of porn-related erection loss try to get it up before their RPs have ended. Try this: After self-sexing to climax with or without porn, do it again every hour or so to learn how long it takes you to raise your next erection. That’s your RP. Don’t expect new erections until you’re past your RP. Repeat this exercise every few years. With age, RP increases, so it’s a good idea to recalibrate your expectations.

No doubt that misinformed anti-porn advocates will continue to allege that porn causes ED. But a robust and growing research literature agrees it doesn’t.