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Comment by guywithahat | Hacker News Reader

I’m not sure Hims are the greatest example. Erectile dysfunction in young men is up to around 15%, from 5% in 2005 (if I’m remembering correctly). This is likely due to the increased availability and potency of porn, but the issue with Hims isn’t that it’s humiliating men it’s that porn is so potent.

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This is a common explanation given but I haven’t seen it acknowledged that anxiety in general is way up among young people of both sexes, which could be the cause.

No sex = anxiety = No Sex, it's a spiral. We really need a campaign to just promote IRL socializing again. Like all the stop smoking ads on the 90s, we need to push people to bars / parties and whatever other low stress social evens exist.

Or teach people that not having sex isn't the end of the world.

This is true, but a very difficult thing to accept as a 16 year old. (At least, it was fairly difficult for me!)

There are fewer and fewer places for young people to meet. And bars aren't really an option for Americans who are under 21.

could have to do with weight gain, lack of exercise, sitting a lot, and even covid.

Could also have to do with increased rates of diagnosis stemming from better access to care through… D2C telehealth providers?

just curious cause i've never heard it before but how does porn cause erectile dysfunction?

A link between the topic of an article here and someone's pet cause is like the free square in bingo.

So you don’t think an increase in erectile dysfunction should be associated with an increase in erectile dysfunction medication (sildenafil)?

killed it

So if you’ve never had sex and you spend years watching men with huge penises making women scream and apparently have multiple orgasms and then you finally have sex yourself and the reality is far different to what you’ve been watching…

I have no doubt this affects young men. Erectile dysfunction in younger men isn’t based on something physical, it’s mental. And what mentally is likely to be affecting them? Insecurity is the most obvious cause. These guys are worrying they are “too small” or not making their girlfriend scream or orgasm enough like they’ve seen in porn.

Sure I don’t have data to prove this, but from actually speaking to people and reading so many posts from young man saying what I literally mentioned above, I’m strongly inclined to the above theory.

It certainly can be physical, especially with how unhealthy portions of the population are (circulation issues, etc).

I agree it CAN be physical, but it's far more likely to be physical if the men affected were 60 plus, who are far more likely to have physical issues than young men.

While 18 year old men can have physical issues which could cause ED, IN GENERAL, 18 year old men are in the prime of their life and also are usually extremely horny. I remember one kid I knew in school telling me he would jerk off 3 to 5 times per day! Not many 60 year olds are doing that...

The point is this, generally at 18-25 roughly your body is working better than it ever will, so I would be inclined to believe that if young men cannot get hard, on balance and probability, it's more likely to be mental than physical.

If it was physical, then why don't we see the same trend in older men?

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