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"Did you know that erectile dysfunction rates have risen tenfold among young men since the rise of free porn? Correlation does not prove causality but it’s hard

"Did you know that erectile dysfunction rates have risen tenfold among young men since the rise of free porn? Correlation does not prove causality but it’s hard to imagine that those two things aren’t somehow related." I'm extremely skeptical that it's caused by porn. More men are on Propecia than in the past. Probably more anti-depressants, too. And it seems to me that people have really ratcheted up the anxiety in general, over the last 20 years or so.

bob_theslob646 8y ago
> I'm extremely skeptical that it's caused by porn. More men are on Propecia than in the past. Probably more anti-depressants, too. And it seems to me that people have really ratcheted up the anxiety in general, over the last 20 years or so. That is also a little harsh, but I agree. Most likely they did not have the means to collect data on it rather than the means at which they do so today. It also could be that it was not considered manly to talk about your feelings 20 years ago... You also did not access to hundreds of thousands of naked men and woman within seconds with a simple google search 20 years ago, whereas you had to find yourself some "contraband" if you were under 18 ,back then.
- 0xcde4c3db 8y ago
  > Most likely they did not have the means to collect data on it rather than the means at which they do so today. Or what they're looking at is diagnoses of erectile dysfunction, which might have some connection to drugs being approved and heavily marketed for it.
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
  Not with Google .. but 20 years ago internet porn was easy to find, eg via Usenet. But lower bandwidth would mean even images loaded slowly. I hypothesise oestrogen mimicking chemicals in toiletries, and maybe plastics?, probably have some part in this.
ggg9990 8y ago
Why are you more skeptical of porn as a cause than anxiety? One is directly related to sex and one isn’t.
- hfdgiutdryg 8y ago
  My understanding is that anxiety is a common cause of erectile dysfunction, at least until cardiovascular health takes over, which is usually in the older crowd.
timdellinger 8y ago
Men's testosterone levels have been falling for decades... I agree there's definitely a trend happening that has causal effects other than what the author is postulating.

bob_theslob646 8y ago

> I'm extremely skeptical that it's caused by porn. More men are on Propecia than in the past. Probably more anti-depressants, too. And it seems to me that people have really ratcheted up the anxiety in general, over the last 20 years or so. That is also a little harsh, but I agree. Most likely they did not have the means to collect data on it rather than the means at which they do so today. It also could be that it was not considered manly to talk about your feelings 20 years ago... You also did not access to hundreds of thousands of naked men and woman within seconds with a simple google search 20 years ago, whereas you had to find yourself some "contraband" if you were under 18 ,back then.

0xcde4c3db 8y ago
> Most likely they did not have the means to collect data on it rather than the means at which they do so today. Or what they're looking at is diagnoses of erectile dysfunction, which might have some connection to drugs being approved and heavily marketed for it.
pbhjpbhj 8y ago
Not with Google .. but 20 years ago internet porn was easy to find, eg via Usenet. But lower bandwidth would mean even images loaded slowly. I hypothesise oestrogen mimicking chemicals in toiletries, and maybe plastics?, probably have some part in this.

ggg9990 8y ago

Why are you more skeptical of porn as a cause than anxiety? One is directly related to sex and one isn’t.

hfdgiutdryg 8y ago
My understanding is that anxiety is a common cause of erectile dysfunction, at least until cardiovascular health takes over, which is usually in the older crowd.

timdellinger 8y ago

Men's testosterone levels have been falling for decades... I agree there's definitely a trend happening that has causal effects other than what the author is postulating.