Behind every good, straight man is a sexually satisfied woman.
Within the US alone roughly 30 million men reside with erectile dysfunction while an estimated 2 out of each 100 American males isn’t producing testosterone inside a typical healthy range, a condition generally known as male hypogonadism. Fortunately, drugs like Viagra [sildenafil] and testosterone supplements have for many years helped men with ED and low testosterone achieve more satisfying sex lives.
Nevertheless, a recent study, published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, explored how using these libido-enhancing therapies affects society’s perception of their masculinity. Ultimately, psychology researchers at Pennsylvania Western University, Edinboro found that these drugs mattered little so long as their ladies achieved orgasm.
The findings also showed that men who use Viagra [sildenafil] or testosterone injections recreationally — without an underlying medical cause — were seen as no more masculine than men who use them to treat erectile dysfunction and low T, even once they, too, consistently brought their female partner to orgasm.
The study make clear the so-called “self-reliance rule of masculinity,” a trend in sexual health research that means males are seen as more manly once they don’t need assistance to realize erection, and, crucially, please their female partner.
“Female partner orgasm served to ‘rescue’ social perceptions of masculinity lost to a low level of testosterone,” researchers wrote of their report.
The study involved two experiments, one which focused on Viagra use and the opposite on testosterone.
The primary test recruited 522 participants — 54% men and 46% women with a mean age of 32.2 years — to read certainly one of eight randomly assigned sexual vignettes. The stories involved a person engaging in sexual intercourse 3 times with the identical woman who either reached climax each time or under no circumstances. Scenarios varied on whether the male character was identified as someone with ED or who takes Viagra.
After reading, participants rated the hypothetical man on his masculinity and sexual esteem.
The second test involved 711 participants and an analogous set of 12 stories, this time describing a person with low, normal, or high natural testosterone, and whether he took the hormone supplamentally. Again, the ladies within the stories either reached orgasm each time or never. Finally, participants assessed their assigned story’s demonstration of masculinity and sexual esteem.
In each cases, the feminine orgasm was identified as essentially the most influential factor, no matter whether the person suffered ED and low T, and took drugs for it.
While men without ED or low T were generally viewed as more masculine, the presence of the feminine orgasm helped close that gap for men with such conditions — and that using these drugs to boost performance, particularly once they’re not medically crucial, had no positive association with perceived manliness.
