5 ms·

I always thought it was the rise of porn

• uuddlrlr 5y ago
  Why would that increase infertility?
  • macksd 5y ago
    None of these things is infertility directly, but they might be what the parent comment is thinking of. I hear of links between ejaculation and prostate health a lot, but that's usually a positive relationship. Sex therapists that I read do seem to universally deny any link between moderate to excessive masturbation and impotence. There are correlations between ED and the rise of Internet porn usage, but that also correlates with the availability of medicines to treat ED and thus the marketing of a solution to a problem.
  • blix 5y ago
    From a purely observation perspective, pornography consumption has increased dramatically at the same time as falling fertility. Even if a mechanism isn't obvious, it at least seems like there is a possibility of a connection. Studies have indicated that long-term pornography use correlates with erectile dysfunction and loss of interest in sexual relationships. It's not hard to imagine that fertility might be related to these other aspects of reproductive health. Unfortunately few long-term studies seem to focus on fertility specifically. Short term studies on the influence of porn find that novel sexual stimulus seems to increase sperm quality while it attenuates in response to repeated exposure to the same stimulus. This is bad news for real life humans who cannot change as rapidly or dramatically as one can switch videos.
  • wsc981 5y ago
    > Why would that increase infertility? Indeed ... wasn't it supposed to cause blindness?
  • elzbardico 5y ago
    The lower cost of sexual release in porn leading to less motivation to pursue relationships with the opposite sex, an activity which in our current state of reproductive preferences, moral values and technology is strongly correlated with instances of human reproduction.
• slothtrop 5y ago
  you're thinking of ED
• bobthechef 5y ago
  That's ED. P.S. The use of "fertility" to describe men is weird and seems recent. Fertility is passive and receptive and thus better fits women (hence the use in agriculture to describe the earth). Virility is a better term because it is active. Some people seem to falsely claim that it doesn't refer to procreative or generative power, but it does as this entry in Etymology Online[0] shows (emphasis mine): "period of manhood," 1580s, from French virilité, from Latin virilitatem (nominative virilitas) "manhood," from virilis "of a man, manly, worthy of a man," from vir "a man, a hero," from PIE root wi-ro- "man." Meaning "power of procreation, capacity for sexua[l] intercourse" is from 1590s; sense of "manly strength" is recorded from c. 1600. There's not much power to procreate if you have a low sperm count. [0] https://www.etymonline.com/word/virility#etymonline_v_30873 https://www.etymonline.com/word/virility#etymonline_v_30873
  • orwin 5y ago
    I think "lack of fertility" to design low sperm count/inviable spermatozoids is accurate. Lack of virility would be impossibility to use your own penis for different reasons. 10-8 year ago i knew a trans who was fertile and could give sperm to her lesbian friends, but lacked virility. The female counterpart of virility should be femininity. DNA and knowledge of the specific of procreation is probably as recent as the use of fertility. Wanted to comment about obesity but i guess most people said what i wanted to say, so i'm rebounding on a tangent for my own self-esteem, sorry.
  • elzbardico 5y ago
    Technically you're right. But If I was a researcher, I would stay clear of using a term that could be understood as some kind of endorsement of toxic masculinity, heteronormativity or whatever. Better to use the slightly less accurate term, overloading its original meaning with a new one, and avoid being the subject of a witch hunt.