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August 2006
Slow Life, Slow Sex: Women helping hubbies to rise
to the occasion
August 20, 2006
Judging by the voice in the call I received, the woman
on the other end of the line was about 50. "We haven't
been at it for a while now," she said. "He'd always
told me that the moment he stepped out the front door it
was a battlefield and I reminded myself how his work must
be tough and there was all sorts of after-hours schmaltz
he had to go through. There were even times when I had to
satisfy myself. But, though we slept together, he stopped
even touching me. I'd just about reached the end of my tether.
But then, I found out what was bothering him."
She continued: "He told me he was worried about that
thing they've been talking about on TV. You know, erectile
dysfunction. My husband leaves early in the morning and
doesn't get home until the early hours of the morning. He
doesn't have the time to watch TV, so I told him to hurry
up and go see a doctor. He did and was fixed in a jiffy.
And now it looks like he's got his old spark back. Guys
are easy to read. If he was worried, he should have spoken
up about it a lot earlier."
She rang off in a delighted voice as if to say, "Doctor,
you should use ED drugs, too."
It was me left feeling bad when the call ended, because
the woman had struck a sore point. That's right, at 55,
I'm finding the topic of this week's column -- erectile
dysfunction -- creeping up on me, too.
America's CNN and other foreign media have frequently brought
up the topic of Japanese men's sexuality, suggesting it
may have something to do with the country's declining birthrate.
I feel like associating the problems with an education system
using grade curves and forbidding failure. Japanese sexuality
is controlled by an impulsive and intimidating image that
says kissing means sex and touching means sex. That breeds
anxieties when men are unable to get erections, and means
that the fondling so vital for good sex is left by the wayside.
As a result, Japan has ended up as a country where couples
have less sex than in any other country in the world.
Now we've got the background, it's important to look at
the mechanism of the erection.
The penis contains two spongy, cavern-like areas called
the corpus cavernosum and, the area surrounding the urethra,
the corpus cavernosum urethrae. When blood flows into these,
the penis hardens to form an erection.
There are also two forms of erection, a reflexive type
and one arising from sexual arousal. The sacral cord located
at the base of the spinal cord is said to be the pivotal
player in sparking erections. When the penis is stimulated,
it sends a message from the pubic nerves partly through
the bowel, along the vesicular gland through the pelvic
nerves and into the part of the spinal cord's nervous system
dedicated to erections. This stimulation sends a message
to the pelvic nerves, which trigger blood flow into the
corpus cavernosum and corpus cavernosum urethrae. The "order"
sent along the nervous system adjusts the blood vessels
and brings about an erection.
When there is little stimulation, blood heads for the spongy
part of the penis but travels along a circuit of the body
called a bypass, which runs between the pulse and the veins
and arteries. The blood doesn't fill the caverns and the
penis remains limp. When getting aroused, the bypass is
shut off, blood gradually fills in the caverns and an erection
results. When the brain is sexually aroused, it sends a
message down through the spinal column, which orders an
erection and the mechanism within the body brings it about.
There is another type of erection called a reflexive erection
and this is the same type of those that have been discovered
to occur in male fetuses still in the womb.
There are a complicated number of factors that influence
erections, including hormones, nerves, blood vessels and
the corpus cavernosum. None of these can be counted out
easily when it comes to finding a cure for impotence.
Still, for me it's good news that pharmaceutical products
for erectile dysfunction have been developed. I know some
may get angry at me for this, but I call the pharmaceuticals
used to combat impotence "recreational drugs."
And in Japan, you can buy drugs like Levitra and Viagra.
(By Dr. Kunio Kitamura, special to the Mainichi)
Source: http://www.pcrm.org/news/archive060814.html
