Archives for January 2009

Today’s entry deals not so much with porn as with porn’s red-handed stepchild, masturbation. Doonesbury readers will recall, no doubt, the furor that erupted six years ago when its creator penned a strip referencing a study that claimed a link between masturbation and the prevention of prostate cancer. (The hubbub was, of course, about the mention of “self-dating” in the funny papers, not about the the study itself.)

BUT NOW, the Manhattan Lawyer points us to a recent entry from Gawker, referencing a study that claims pretty much exactly the opposite:

“Men who are very sexually active in their twenties and thirties are more likely to develop prostate cancer, especially if they masturbate frequently, according to a study of more than 800 men. However the UK research team also found that frequent sexual activity in a man’s forties appears to have little effect and even small levels of activity in a man’s fifties could offer protection from the disease. Most of the differences were attributed to masturbation rather than sexual intercourse.”

Well, science, which is it? And yes, we here at Godsbody are tickled at the thought of federal legislation demanding that all pornography feature a label warning that masturbation increases your risk of prostate cancer.