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Drugs, desire a tricky mix in bed
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...id=971358637177
It's no revelation that sex and drugs are often bedfellows and anyone who has ever stepped into a bar knows all about the socially sanctioned role that alcohol plays in seduction. But despite any notion otherwise, sex while high or drunk isn't always a graceful enterprise. It can even be downright impossible.
Alcohol and drugs affect the body in various ways, and one of these ways is occasionally to inhibit the maintenance of a decent erection. But now that Viagra and Cialis have hit the scene, people are combining a recreational use of erectile-dysfunction medication and party drugs so that they can keep their personal party going longer.
Barry, 26, has experimented with drugs and having sex while high on and off for about 10 years. He says that occasionally a drug like Ecstasy — which can inhibit erections — will be cut with Viagra. "A good drug dealer will tell you if that's the case," he says "because they'll know what's in it. But often, you don't know it's there."
Nick Boyce, co-ordinator of gay men's harm reduction at the AIDS Committee of Toronto, points out that "it's relatively easy to get a prescription (for erectile-dysfunction medication) or to buy it on the black market. But those drugs even on their own can be dangerous." And the combination can be deadly. With one drug telling the body one thing (erectile-enhancing drugs lower blood pressure), and another drug sending different messages (methamphetamine/crystal meth, for example, raises blood pressure), the body gets confused and is at risk of strokes or heart attacks.
But prescription medications aren't the only thing that people will take to counteract the erectile problems they may encounter while high. Al is 32 and first had sex while high on recreational drugs when he was 16. Still a recreational user today, he points out that some people will simply take another recreational drug such as the raver's favourite, GHB (Gamma hydroxybutyrate), commonly known as liquid X.
A review of research that examines how the use of tobacco, alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana affects sexual functioning was recently published in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality.
The review examined the effects on sexual functioning based on a three-stage model: desire, arousal and orgasm. All of the drugs examined had the potential to negatively affect at least one of the three stages, the most common being arousal. Regular, prolonged use of tobacco, alcohol, meth and cocaine were all found to have the potential to either inhibit erections or decrease vaginal lubrication. Many occasional or one-time users did, however, report positive experiences and heightened sensations.
But it would be wrong to say that drugs or alcohol serve as aphrodisiacs. It's more often that the high leads to reduced inhibitions and increased feelings of self-confidence or wellbeing that spill over to sexual experiences. Your expectations and state of mind can have a lot to do with it as well.
"People told me not to have sex on ecstasy because it would be so great that I'd never want to have sex without it again," says Barry. "But that wasn't the case at all. It was good, but I didn't notice a huge difference." Al, on the other hand, says having sex on Ecstasy is "the closest I've come to seeing God."
Personal preferences aside, the belief that drug use and risky sexual behaviour are always a package deal is one that potentially perpetuates dangerous sexual practices. Boyce points out that "people can get high or intoxicated and still have safer sex."
Despite a lack of solid research in some areas, and some conflicting results in others, Alex McKay, the research co-ordinator for the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada, who compiled the review, says that it did produce conclusions about sex and substance use.
"It's not that people shouldn't feel free to enjoy a glass of wine, but we can definitively say that long-term use of any substance is likely to have a moderate to severe negative impact on sexual functioning," he says. "What's bad for your health is ultimately bad for your sexual function."
McKay wonders if perhaps sex and substances are so often linked because of our societal attitude toward sexuality. "If we lived in a truly liberated society, and people felt truly comfortable in their sexuality and their sexual relationships," McKay says, "perhaps there wouldn't be as much need for the consumption of some substances in sexual contexts."
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"In a world of illusion you only see what you feel"
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