It's Not Hard, People.

By Amy Stewart, LMFT, CST

If the list of reasons to wear a mask is not yet convincing enough for you,  how about preventing erectile dysfunction? We’re certainly not doctors,  but as penis afficanadoes and fans of their owners and friends, it feels important for us to highlight the multiple ways in which the virus can impact sexual health. 

It’s no secret that the pandemic has had a significant influence on the sex lives of folks around the world.  There’s the stress of (choose one or add your own): constantly worrying whether it’s Covid or allergies; juggling your multiple new roles as full time employee, caregiver, teacher, house manager, etc.; unavoidably intertwining all aspects of your life with your partner/roommate/family and enduring the correlated lack of privacy, or having so much privacy that safely finding a person to partner up with is a feat. All of this is understandably very unsexy and not great context for a lot of humans. 

And ALSO we’re starting to see anecdata that folks with and recovering from Covid-19 are experiencing issues with sexual, specifically erectile functioning. Multiple journals are beginning to document emerging evidence that Covid can cause problems with getting and maintaining erections as the virus can damage the inside of the blood vessels though inflammation during infection. Similar physiological effects have been noted in vaginal tissues, as well. 

Stay safe. Wear a mask.