The Sexual Performance Perfection Industry and the Medicalization of Male Sexuality

Bass, Barry A.

doi:10.1177/1066480701093015

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Only peripherally is sexual pleasure addressed, and when it is, the man's pleasure takes precedence over the woman's. As Bass (2001) suggests, in the sexual-performance perfection industry, 'good sex changes the basic nature of a sexual encounter from one of intimacy and pleasure to one of achievement and performance' (p. 337).…”

Section: What Is Longz?mentioning

confidence: 97%

‘Pack a more powerful punch’ and ‘lay the pipe’: erectile enhancement discourse as a body project for masculinity

Brubaker

Johnson

2008

Journal of Gender Studies

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In this article, we analyze erectile enhancement as a postmodern body project that (re)codes hegemonic masculinity through new means. Erectile enhancement Internet ads create a text of masculinity through constructing a crisis of masculinity and selling the solution. The crisis is loss of power, control and the ability to dominate; the solution is a larger and more powerful penis that will give men back their sense of manhood. Although the erectile enhancement discourse suggests new ways of constructing masculinity -through consumption and an elevated importance of the body in gender identity -the ads reassert hegemonic ideals, i.e. the othering of and domination over women and phallocentrism.

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Section: What Is Longz?mentioning

confidence: 97%

‘Pack a more powerful punch’ and ‘lay the pipe’: erectile enhancement discourse as a body project for masculinity

Brubaker

Johnson

2008

Journal of Gender Studies

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“…According to clinical reports and empirical findings, a variety of medical, psychological, and relationship factors have been associated with the development and maintenance of ED. As noted earlier, even in cases where medical factors have directly caused ED, psychological and relationship factors are also likely to be maintaining this disorder [11–15]. The role of relationship factors associated with ED are discussed below.…”

Section: Relationship Factors Related To the Development And Maintenamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers have cautioned against focusing exclusively on biological causes for ED during treatment [58][59][60][61]. Specifically, it has been argued that a purely medical approach reinforces the maladaptive perception that sexual activity is all about achieving a perfect erection, which further perpetuates anxiety among men regarding performance [12,60,62]. Therefore, even when ED is primarily caused by biological factors, more favorable outcomes are likely to be achieved when medical treatment is supplemented with treatment to address relationship dynamics.…”

Section: Do Medical Treatments Address Psychological and Relationshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship Factors in the Development and Maintenance of ED: Implications for Treatment Effectiveness

McCabe

2008

The Journal of Sexual Medicine

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Introduction With the advent of effective medical treatments for erectile dysfunction (ED), there has been a reduced focus in recent years on the role of relationship in the development of this disorder. Aim This article examines the contribution of relationship factors to the success or otherwise of different treatment approaches for ED. Main Outcome Measures The results of findings in the literature on the association between relationship factors and the development and maintenance of ED. Methods This article reviews and evaluates the literature that relates to the role of relationship factors in the development and maintenance of ED. Results The current review demonstrates that relationship dynamics are frequently dysfunctional among men with ED. Research demonstrates that addressing these problems is likely to improve the effectiveness of therapy. However, there have been limited studies conducted in this area; many of these studies are methodologically flawed, and so it is difficult to determine the effectiveness of these interventions. Conclusion There needs to be further research on the association between relationship factors and ED. Suggestions for future research that include combined medical and psychological interventions for ED are proposed.

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“…The contemporary privileging of physical causes over psychological is a trend that has been enhanced through the discovery of drugs such as Viagra. It is indicative of the increasing influence of biomedical accounts of sexuality in Western societies – a move referred to as ‘the biological ousting of culture’ by Aleksandar Stulhofer (2000: 141) – and viewed as part of the process of ‘biomedicalisation’ by others (see Winton 2000, Bass 2001, Hart and Wellings 2002, Carpiano 2001, De Ras and Grace 1997, Tiefer 1995, Clarke et al 2003).…”

Section: The New Sexual Imperative: Sex For Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

‘Sex for life’? Men's counter‐stories on ‘erectile dysfunction’, male sexuality and ageing

Potts

Grace

Vares

et al. 2006

Sociology Health & Illness

111

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Discourse on male sexuality in mid-to-later life has exploded in recent years (Gullette 1998). Attention to this topic has been spurred by the advent of (highly profitable) sexuopharmaceutical 'solutions' to erectile changes affecting older men. 'Success' stories abound in the media and in medical literature related to the restoration of faulty erections and ailing sex lives through drugs such as Viagra (sildenafil citrate), Uprima (apomorphine) and Cialis (tadalafil). In this paper we explore some of the ways in which notions about ageing and male sexuality are changing in popular cultural and medical texts in response to the advent of Viagra and the increasing authority of biomedicine in this area. We also demonstrate how the recent biomedical endorsement of 'sex for life' (the imperative to maintain an active youthful masculine [hetero]sexuality -defined in terms of male orgasm through penetrative sex) may be challenged by the very accounts of older men who are, or have been, affected by erectile difficulties and have used drugs like Viagra themselves. We present the perspectives of mid-to-late life heterosexual men in New Zealand whose stories question the contemporary biomedical privileging of erections and intercourse 'at any cost and at any age'. We argue that the current push to identify and treat so-called erectile dysfunction (and restore erections and penetrative sex to relationships) neglects some men's own experiences of alternative modes of relating sexually that they identify as 'normal', 'healthy', 'enjoyable' and 'satisfying' for them and their partners; and undermines their understanding of such changes as positive outcomes of ageing, experience and maturity.

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The Sexual Performance Perfection Industry and the Medicalization of Male Sexuality

Cited by 15 publications

References 2 publications

‘Pack a more powerful punch’ and ‘lay the pipe’: erectile enhancement discourse as a body project for masculinity

‘Pack a more powerful punch’ and ‘lay the pipe’: erectile enhancement discourse as a body project for masculinity

Relationship Factors in the Development and Maintenance of ED: Implications for Treatment Effectiveness

‘Sex for life’? Men's counter‐stories on ‘erectile dysfunction’, male sexuality and ageing

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