As a female who has formed a surprisingly lucrative career out of knowing everything there is to know about the world of dating, sex and relationships, and as a woman with a whole lot of male friends, it has come to my attention that there’s a pretty pressing issue out there that no one seems to want to talk about, which sucks, because if we did, a lot of guys wouldn’t be lying in bed like…
That’s right, I’m talking about erectile dysfunction
– being “the persistent or recurrent inability to achieve or maintain an erection.” Sounds scary right? Well it needn’t be. Believe it or not, erectile dysfunction is a surprisingly common issue, and not just among older men. Men experience all kinds of body image issues, performance anxiety and societal pressures.
Even as a woman, I’ve realised just how hard a guy’s confidence is hit when they can’t get it up, but it really shouldn’t be that big a deal because there’s always a solution. Hell, sometimes it’s just a result of too much beer and Vodka, or the little man might simply just not be in the mood, but either way, a flaccid peen can be dealt with so I couldn’t help but wonder, why are we so afraid to talk about it? It’s actually pretty common, whether it seems a temporary or permanent occurrence, but I guess the major reason men and women won’t open their mouths about it is because it comes between exactly that – men and women.
So what’s this got to do with relationships?
I guess it’s a bit of a touchy (understandably difficult) subject to bring up over dinner but the easier it is to do so, the better. It came as no surprise to me when I stumbled over a survey from Europa Pharmacy about this very topic online to discover that males feel twice as much pressure to perform sexually compared to females. To be honest, I think we all could’ve taken a good guess at that one and as well as this, it’s the younger generation who are less likely to have a natter about it. Of course they are! Why? Because generally speaking, they don’t understand why it might be happening or more importantly, what they can do to fix it.
Erectile dysfunction doesn’t just affect guys emotionally and physically, but it can also affect relationships too because let’s be economical with the truth here, sex plays a hugely significant role within a partnership and if the general’s refusing to stand to attention during the main event, it can cause quite the confusion between two people, and no one has time for that.
So why does it happen?
Well, there’s a whole bunch of causes. If we’re talking physical reasons, contributing factors include but are not limited to: weight, smoking, alcohol, illegal drugs, lack of exercise, but that’s not it, there are emotional causes too, like: anxiety, depression and stress. I guess if you or your partner were ever affected by this, you’d probably know the cause deep down but if not, there really is no harm is getting yourself down to the Docs and laying your cards on the table. Trust me, that’s what they’re there for – to help.
So how do you stop it from happening?
Seriously, if you don’t feel comfortable enough to talk it out with your significant other, don’t be afraid to speak to a Doc, they know what’s up and they could (more often than not) pinpoint the cause for you, and offer you all sorts of solutions so that you no longer get down ’cause you can’t get it up. You can even make your own changes to combat the causes. Not exercising enough? Do it a little more! Cut down on the fags, put the beer down, you know what I mean, and there’s really no shame at all to buy Sildenafil over the counter (that’s Viagra to you and I) but really what I’m trying to say, very inarticulately, is that there are a lot of solutions out there, so take advantage of them because you’ll definitely get that happy ending you wanted in more ways than one…
