Documentary | Sex, porn and disorder

Eugene is 24 years old. He’s been consuming porn since he was 16. And, despite his young age, get this, he has erectile problems. The worst part: he is far from alone. A documentary presented on the show Doc humanity make the point.

“We’re going to tell each other the real facts…” The tone adopted by The great stampede, offered on Tou.tv and Amazon Prime, and broadcast at 10:30 p.m. on ICI Télé on March 30, is deliberately direct, complicit, in parts downright light, even if the point is far from being so. Alternating between cartoons and testimonies, we follow, for a rather dense hour thank you, the same Eugène in his quest to understand the phenomenon which overwhelms him.

Confidences

Let us salute the courage of the young man (today as a couple, even dad, we were whispered quietly, that yes, good news, we are getting through it!), who dared to say out loud what many solitary pleasurers hide very low: “I don’t have a hard-on!” “, paraphrases the director of this documentary with the well-chosen title, Karina Marceau, congratulating her team for having got their hands on such a perfect “casting”.

Think about it: this Eugene is young, handsome, he has a job, lots of friends, in short, everything for him (except you know what). And, as we have said, not only is he not alone, but also there are more and more like him.

You have to hear him recount his very first sexual experience, in the flesh (“I came like a bull!”), explain his performance stress, his clumsiness and, ultimately, his failure. Conversely, in front of his screen, “I don’t hide it, I had a certain comfort! “. Hard to be more eloquent.

Among other alarming figures thrown out here: 88% of young boys aged 3^e secondary school and 40% of young girls of the same age consume pornography; and for the most part, several times a month.

More than 25% of men even say they have erectile dysfunction, according to various studies cited. According to an American study from 2012 (yes, it’s dated, imagine today!), 8% of young Americans also consume Viagra or any other (counterfeit) substitute.

And the most worrying figure comes from sexologist Stéphanie Houle, who mentions seeing children aged 6 or 7 with porn addiction problems!

How is it possible ? Through pop-ups of all kinds, too many children are confronted with unsolicited images (and sounds!), she explains, which in spite of themselves generate very strong emotions. “And addiction sets in very quickly…”

Experts of all kinds, a sexologist, therefore, but also a chemist, a urologist, a producer and even a porn actor intervene on camera, to draw up a complete portrait of a virtual phenomenon which we certainly talk about a lot, but about which we do not not yet measure all the real consequences.

Invitation to dialogue

More and more young men struggling with erectile dysfunction? Even if the statement seems “counterintuitive,” explains screenwriter and director Karina Marceau in an interview, “it is the symptom of a much deeper issue: (…) the virtual sexual imagination versus reality. »

Concretely, “young people start consuming porn around 10-11 years old,” she explains, “but the age of first sexual intercourse remains the same, around 17 years old. So much so that they find themselves consuming porn codes for several years. When they land in the real world, these young people are lost! »

Note that the documentary does not demonize pornography here (“we’re a damn gang!”, a voice gently reminds us in the narration). “We are not against porn. We invite dialogue,” explains the director. His wish ? May this documentary be viewed as a family and serve as a gateway to a frank conversation. Let’s say that the right topics to debate, from the role of cell phones to performance anxiety (for both men and women), including the unrealistic standards conveyed, and especially the increasingly early age of first use, do not not missing.

The documentary ends on this note of hope, recalling that “a federal bill aims to bring criminal charges against companies that make sexually explicit material accessible to minors.”

At 10:30 p.m., on the show Doc humanity, on Radio-Canada. Also available on Tou.tv.