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Erectile
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Dysfunction
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days of yore. It’s just that I think the ads have given us the wrong idea about how to deal with this very common problem, which is why this article.
.....First, as always, a definition. ED is generally defined as the inability to maintain an erection hard enough for satisfactory intercourse, a definition that leaves a lot to be desired (and not just more and better sex). That’s because clearly one man’s “severe” erectile problems are clearly often another man’s “whatever” norm. That is, clearly, “hard enough” is a relative term. Not only that, it usually takes two (sometimes more) people to agree on what constitutes “satisfactory” intercourse, meaning that even though one partner may rate a bout of intercourse (they’re all bouts, of course, and they’re all graded by at least one partner, usually both) as having been ruined by ED by too much softness, the other partner may say, “Hey, that wasn’t so bad, I’ve had worse” (which may or may not be comforting to learn). In other words, “hard enough for satisfactory intercourse” is often a matter of perspective, which in turn also makes it somewhat problematic about determining the prevalence of ED.
.....Those limitations aside, everyone agrees that ED is not only very common, but also that it’s increasing |
.....Today, we tackle that problem now known as erectile dysfunction or ED, but which old-timers still more accurately refer to as “impotence”, and I start with an observation that all of you have probably made as well.
.....What I mean is that twenty years ago, most men didn’t dare whisper a word in public about their erectile difficulties and most men didn’t even dare mention anything to their doctors about their erectile problems, not even when the doctor, who back then was as reticent to discuss sexual problems as their patient was, dared ask about it – “Any, you know, ahem, ahem, ahem, problems down below, Bob?” “You kidding, doc? Never! Nada. No way. Anyway, how about those Canucks, eh?”
B.....ut boy, have we ever come a long way, babies, because in the intervening two decades, we seem to have ended up in a Viagra-vigorous era where many men, especially washed-up has-beens (say hello, Bob Dole), happily line up on camera to publicly proclaim their erectile problems to the entire universe.
.....So nearly everywhere you turn on a TV nowadays, you pretty soon run into a promotion for an ED drug, which increasingly involve endlessly giddy, silly, and smiley partners (at least I think they’re partners, because I sure hope they aren’t strangers to each |
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other) who no matter what else they’re doing at the time (attending an opera, for example) are obviously planning on having delirious sex as soon as they
 can get away from doing this ad, or if they’re already at the opera, have already had that kind of sex. (As an aside, I must tell you that I attend the opera regularly, and I have never gotten ready for a performance of Tosca or Rigoletto, by, well, you know, doing something energetic).
.....Now, please don’t get me wrong. I think it’s a very good thing that, in large part because of the tsunami of ED ads we’ve been subjected to, we’re so much more willing to talk about ED than in |
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