Young men across the world are plagued by a myriad sexual deficiencies and intimacy problems brought on by the ease of access to pornography on the internet, which mirrors drug-like addiction qualities.
This is according to a new US study in the Behavioural Sciences journal, which called for changes to official diagnostic procedures that currently do not allow for connections to be drawn between internet pornography and sexual dysfunction, rather opting for mental health reasons.
The study, which cited extensive neuroscientific, clinical, biological, psychological and sociological research from various countries, added that those in “key development phases”, such as adolescents, are particularly vulnerable to problems in later life with erectile dysfunction, lowered sexual “enjoyment”, diminished libido, difficulty orgasming and less desire for “partnered” intimacy.
They added that the extent of the problem is “not well understood” worldwide.
The new report states that in recent years there has been an “unprecedented increase” in sexual deficiencies in young men, ranging from 16 to 40, who sometimes need pornography to maintain arousal with partners.
The report asserts that while sexually explicit material is not new, the internet has heavily facilitated video pornography, which “is significantly more sexually arousing than other forms of pornography or fantasy”.
The report adds: “The potential health risks of internet pornography are not as well understood as those for alcohol and tobacco use, and… (it) is widely portrayed as both ordinary behaviour and socially acceptable.”
Internet porn addiction stifles sexual arousal with partners, who “no longer (meet) their conditioned expectations”, where “erectile problems may occur when real-life sexual stimulation does not match the broad content (online)”.
They also state a correlation between more porn used and a drop in “enjoyment” from partnered sex.
The study calls for ways in which to intervene in porn addiction and state health-care providers should stop assuming “poor” mental health as the cause.
“Without employing (new tests) there is a risk of false diagnoses… and a risk of prescribing needless psychoactive medications.”