Sex and drugs
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Sex and the use of drugs, both legal and illegal, have been linked throughout human history, encompassing all aspects of sex: desire, performance, pleasure, conception, gestation, and disease.
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Disinhibition[edit]
Drugs are frequently associated with reduced sexual inhibition, both when used voluntarily in social circumstances, and involuntarily, as in the case of some date rape drugs.
Because drug and alcohol use is commonly presented as an excuse for risky or socially unacceptable behaviour, it is necessary to treat the idea of a direct causal relation between drug use and unsafe sex with caution. Drugs may provide a socially acceptable excuse for engaging in sexual behaviours in which people may want to engage but perhaps feel that they should not.[1]
Sexual function[edit]
Some forms of sexual dysfunction such as erectile dysfunction can be treated with drugs. Because of their effects, erectile dysfunction drugs are sometimes used for recreational purposes.
Many drugs, both legal and illegal, have side effects that affect the user's sexual function. Tobacco use (e.g., cigarette smoking), also reduces sexual function, with the incidence of impotence being approximately eighty-five percent higher in male smokers compared to non-smokers.[2] Many drugs can cause loss of libido as a side effect.[citation needed]
Since the partial cause of the refractory period is the inhibition of dopamine by an orgasm-induced secretion of prolactin,[3] such potent dopamine receptor agonists as cabergoline may help achieve multiple orgasms as well as the retention of sexual arousal for longer periods.[4]
Contraception and abortion[edit]
Drug-based contraception has been available since the development of the contraceptive pill. As well as their contraceptive effects, contraceptive drugs can also have adverse sexual and reproductive side-effects. Prior to the availability of effective contraceptives, some substancies were also used as abortifacients to terminate pregnancy; medical abortion exists as a modern medical practice.
See also[edit]
- Abortifacient
- Aphrodisiac
- Date rape drug
- Sex and alcohol
- Hormonal contraception
- Libido#Medications
- Methamphetamine and sex
- Nitrite inhalants
- Party and play
- Wine, women, and song
References[edit]
- ^ Race K (2009): Pleasure Consuming Medicine: The queer politics of drugs Durham: Duke University Press.
- ^ "The Tobacco Reference Guide". Retrieved 2006-07-15.
- ^ Haake, P.; Exton, M.S.; Haverkamp, J.; Krämer, M.; Leygraf, N.; Hartmann, U.; Schedlowski, M.; Krueger, T.H.C. (April 2002), "Absence of orgasm-induced prolactin secretion in a healthy multi-orgasmic male subject", International Journal of Impotence Research, 14 (2), pp. 133–135, doi:10.1038/sj/ijir/3900823, retrieved 2007-07-30
- ^ Krüger TH, Haake P, Haverkamp J, et al. (December 2003). "Effects of acute prolactin manipulation on sexual drive and function in males". Journal of Endocrinology. 179 (3): 357–65. doi:10.1677/joe.0.1790357. PMID 14656205.
External links[edit]
- "Sex Under the Influence" on antidepressants, alcohol, marijuana, and ecstasy from the University of California at Santa Barbara
- Marijuana and Sex: A Classic Combination
