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Identifying and Managing Problems in Different Settings
Published in Philipa A Brough, Margaret Denman, Introduction to Psychosexual Medicine, 2019
Some cultures and religions have fixed rules surrounding sexual intercourse. In most religions this is banned until after marriage. Some religions, such as Roman Catholicism, restrict the use of contraception and abortion. Orthodox Jews are supposed to avoid intercourse during menstruation or any other type of vaginal bleeding and for seven days following this. A cleansing ceremony or mikva is then performed. Many Muslim groups also ban sexual intercourse when there is bleeding. (This must be borne in mind when suggesting contraceptive measures that may cause irregular bleeding.) HCPs working with Southeast Asian men may come across the Dhat syndrome where loss of energy, weakness and anxiety may be attributed to loss of semen by nocturnal emission or masturbation. In fact, many religions ban masturbation. Homosexuality is also taboo in many cultures and is still illegal in many parts of the world.
The First Ejaculation: A Male Pubertal Milestone Comparable to Menarche?
Published in The Journal of Sex Research, 2020
It is noted here that the veracity of this claim has not been verified. A general trend has been found that nocturnal emissions are more prevalent among those who limit ejaculation through masturbation (Yu, 2012), but an exact relationship between conscious and unconscious ejaculation frequency is unclear. The most comprehensive account of the relationship between masturbation and nocturnal emission frequency comes from the diaries of the American marine Philip Van Buskirk, kept from 1852 (age 19) to 1858 (age 25), yet his case did not show a conspicuous relationship between the ejaculation frequency of each type (Burg, 1983). The lack of a discernible relationship between conscious and unconscious ejaculation frequency is likely due to the unclear periodicity of ejaculation in general, viz, it is unclear whether there exists a time period of abstention that necessarily leads to a nocturnal emission. Ideas of males exhibiting sexual periodicity analogous to female ovulation have long existed (Ellis, 1927), but there does not appear to be actual scientific literature investigating periodicity in the occurrence of ejaculation.