Master Plan

Elected officials can be so clever. Look at Loretta Walsh, who proposed this bill in Delaware, or Virginia Senator Janet Howell, who offered this amendment to the transvaginal ultrasound bill in her state. I agree with them in snarky principle, but I think we need to come at this problem from a more practical standpoint.

Executive Summary: Pharmaceutical treatment of erectile dysfunction in men is very expensive, often topping more than $10/per sexual encounter. A well-known cause of impotence in men is psychological in nature, quite often depression, which is often easily treated with very inexpensive medications. So, let's conduct some psychological and physiological testing to rule out this cause before handing out expensive prescription ED medications.

I recall reading a while back about a study that indicated that in a test group of men, those who exhibited the most virulent of homophobic attitudes were more likely to also exhibit sexual arousal when shown male/male pornography than their less-homophobic co-participants. IIRC, the testing utilized equipment to measure penile tumescence as various pornographic photos and videos were presented to them. The pornography showed male/male, male/female, female/female and solo male and solo female sexual acts.

There are many possible physical causes of impotence, but there are also a great many psychological causes of it, as well -- depression being a significant factor. One study concluded that "... [c]oncomitant erectile dysfunction and depression represent a significant public health problem."

Given the high cost of Viagra and other such drugs, and public concerns about rising health care costs, it seems prudent to eliminate easily- (and inexpensively-) treated psychological causes for erectile dysfunction.

I propose that anyone similarly concerned forward this to a friendly state legislator, who can introduce bills that require men seeking treatment for ED to have their penile tumescence measured while viewing a variety of straight and gay pornography, with the results being entered into their medical record.

Of course, this legislation would fail in just about any body in which it were proposed, but that isn't the point. The point is that conservative legislators who vote against such measures are a.) unconcerned about a costly medical treatment that drives up costs at every level, and; b.) also unconcerned that ED medications might be used for non-procreative, perhaps even homosexual purposes.

Your thoughts welcome in the comments.
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