The Negative Effects of Alcohol on Sexuality

Alcohol may lower the inhibitions somewhat, but it also has devastating effects on sexual desire, erection, sensation, and orgasm. Although its exact effects will depend on an individual’s tolerance, the amount of alcohol consumed, and the length of time a person has been drinking, the net result of alcohol consumption will always be detrimental to one’s sexual function.

The Effects of Alcohol on Men

Even occasional doses of alcohol will reduce the engorgement of the penis; although many people believe alcohol to be an aphrodisiac, it leads to less potent erections. The effects of chronic intoxication or alcoholism are many and varied, including difficulty maintaining an erection, troubled or premature ejaculation, and endocrine disruption. This last effect may lead to insufficient function of the penis or testicles (hypogonadism) or problems with the production of sperm.

Over time, saturating the body with alcohol can lead to testicular atrophy, body-wide hair loss, and liver disease. Among other functions, the liver holds the reserves and defense mechanisms of the body’s blood. If the liver is diseased, it cannot generate the amount of blood necessary for sexual excitement. As an erection is simply an infusion of blood into the tubular structures of the penis, it is easy to understand how erections can become weaker and less functional with alcohol abuse and/or liver disease.

The Effects of Alcohol on Women

Alcohol has contradictory effects on women. While ethanol exacerbates sexual excitement, making it more intense than normal, it also restricts the flow of blood to the walls of the vagina—an effect that grows more pronounced in proportion to the amount of alcohol consumed.

Less blood flow to the vagina means less sensation there as well. However, lowered inhibitions allow erotic fantasy and arousal to be liberated. Therefore, a woman who drinks excessively may find that her subjective sensations of pleasure are augmented. However, most psychologists and sexologists agree that women who drink chronically tend to lose interest in sexuality in general and in the sexual act in particular.