Throughout our teenage years and early 20s, we feared that our ravenous, youthful sex drive would lead to unwanted pregnancies. Now a new study has found the polar opposite: Men who want kids aren’t interested in having sex.
According to research published in The Journal Of Sexual Medicine, several factors were linked to a man’s decreasing level of sex drive. Italian scientists attributed a lack of sex drive associated with wanting to have a baby down to fears to how their sex lives would change.
“For years, the debate in scientific literature has been focused on female sexual desire and arousal, arguing that female sexuality is complex and full of psychological and relational issues,” says study author Filippo M. Nimbi from Sapienza University in Rome.
“Male sexuality has been under-evaluated and considered as mechanical and simple ( stimulus, erection and orgasm) and since 1997 even ‘hyper medicalised’ ( since the creation of Viagra)…The psychological, relational and cultural issues are very important for men’s sexuality. With this project, we wanted to analyse the male sexual response starting from the desire phase – the most unknown part.
“What is clear is that male sexuality is considerably more complex than previously thought: a hard and rigid erection is not enough to explain men functioning,” says Nimbi.
In the report, 298 heterosexual participants were asked to answer a series of topics that could be related to their sex drive. Findings suggest that fear, premature ejaculation, depression, energy levels, stress, relationship compatibility and values could all impact a man’s sexual desire.
“The important message of this study is that desire in men is strongly influenced by gender and sexual stereotypes such as the idea that ‘the erection is the most important element to satisfy the partner.’ Moreover, feelings and emotions have a key role in sexuality,” adds Nimbi, speaking to PsyPost.
“We are facing a reality in which we are not used to feeling and enjoying the pleasure of a sexual encounter. Mainly, we are in a rush and just focus on the orgasm, but sexuality ( and pleasure) is much more.”
This article originally appeared on Men’s Health
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