Porn, Laptops on Laps Can Cause Impotence, Infertility and Worse

ITALY—There is a double dosage of bad news for men who like to watch a lot of porn on laptops resting on their groin area. You know who you are (and so do we).  

Fox News has reported that an Italian andrologist, Carlo Foresta of Padua University, has conducted a study that found that resting a laptop on one’s groin for just one hour can raise the temperature of one’s testicles by two degrees Celsius (about four degrees Fahrenheit), overheating the genitals to the point that the owner’s ability to produce sperm could be impaired. Studies have further shown that even a one degree rise can lead to infertility, and that resting a laptop on the groin for more than two hours can result in having a child that looks like Joy Behar.

But that’s not all. Another study conducted by Foresta, who is the head of the Italian Society of Andrology and Sexual Medicine (SIAM), found that watching too much internet porn (“excessive consumption”) can lead to impotence. The findings were presented this week at SIAM’s annual conference in Rome.

According to Fox, Foresta’s “team drew their conclusions from a survey of 28,000 Italian men which revealed that many became hooked on porn as early as 14, exhibiting symptoms of so-called ‘sexual anorexia’ by the time they reached their mid-twenties.”

"It starts with lower reactions to porn sites,” said Foresta, “then there is a general drop in libido and in the end it becomes impossible to get an erection.”

The researcher did admit, however, that symptoms of impotence are reversible, and quickly. “With proper assistance recovery is possible within a few months," Foresta said.

Fox also reported that other data released at the SIAM conference revealed that Germans are the biggest consumers of online porn in Europe, with 34.5 percent logging on to access porn, and that France came in second (33.6 percent), with Spain (32.4 percent) and Italy (28.9 percent) close behind.

Researchers are now exploring whether watching too much porn on a Blackberry held too close to one’s face will lead to impotence and blindness. Stay tuned.