More Than Just a Broken Arrow

If having sex in college is so "normal", why are its affects seemingly so abnormal? Here is one FASCINATING piece from the Washington Post a few weeks ago titled, "Cupid's Broken Arrow" about rising rates of male impotenece among college-aged men.

Fascinating in part because it seems so unlikely but also because it seems to make sense. As the article says, It seems that for a sizable number of young men, the fact that they can get sex whenever they want may have created a situation where, in fact, they're unable to have sex. According to surveys, young women are now as likely as young men to have sex and by countless reports are also as likely to initiate sex, taking away from males the age-old, erotic power of the chase.

And while the power of the chase is certainly part of the problem, other factors may contribute as well. As the article goes on to say, "Combine performance anxiety with binge drinking and the abuse of drugs on campus and it's no wonder that problems are showing up at college clinics in numbers that give the lie to the adage that impotence is reserved for the old (Bob Dole) or crazy (Jack Nicholson in "Carnal Knowledge"). The younger models who now appear in commercials for Viagra and its pharmaceutical clones reveal that the drug makers know (hope?) what the rest of us don't: Some members of the Game Boy generation are losing their game."

What seems most interesting to me is that besides the brief mention of sexually aggressive behavior in the first graph (quoted above), the abnormal frequency and emotional disconnection that often accompany casual sex are not explored extensively as significant factors in this phenomenon. Instead, relatively mundane factors like stress, anxiety and diet are cited as significant sources. Forgive me if I don't believe that eating Taco Bell and taking AP curses in high school is more at fault for early impotence than, say, masturbation or promiscuity. If anything I would think that guilt or emotional disengagement or overstimulation or simple boredom are far more likely culprits.

Seems to me we shouldn't be surprised that the unbridled sexual license we have not only permitted, but encouraged, on college campuses has resulted in an irony this pointed. After all, the chickens always come home to roost.