# What are the adverse effects of not having sex?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [February 10, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275 "2009-02-10T20:51:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/1 "2009-02-10T20:51:40Z")
This is something that’s puzzled me for quite a while. Recently a doper asserted that sex “cannot be abstained from without adverse effects”. There’s no need to single out that particular statement, since similar claims are made all the time.
This is one of those issues where I feel that somebody must be off their rocker, and I just need to figure out whether it’s me or those other people. As I see it, it is possible and not particularly difficult to abstain from having sex, and there are no negative results of doing so. Why then all these claims to the contrary?
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### Author:  [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/2 "2009-02-10T21:36:05Z")
Not having/giving orgasms. That’s a pretty big one.
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/3 "2009-02-10T21:40:04Z")
I think we need to establish more clearly what exactly the OP means by “sex”. It’s perfectly possible to have orgasms even if one totally abstains from sex with a partner.
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/4 "2009-02-10T21:40:59Z")
Well, the physical effects of sex can be had without sex itself. That is, masturbation results in orgasm. So is it really sex we’re talking about or orgasms?
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### Author:  [@Myrrajh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrrajh)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/5 "2009-02-10T21:45:12Z")
Adverse effects? None. Sexual organs do not fall off, atrophy, or become gangrenous if they’re not used. The psychological effects for those who “just can’t live without it” might be stressful, but physiologically, nothing bad happens.
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### Author:  [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/6 "2009-02-10T21:45:39Z")
I meant sex by the sixth grade sex ed class definition, not by the Bill Clinton definition. Oral sex is sex, masturbation is not.
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### Author:  [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/7 "2009-02-10T21:47:45Z")
I think there may well be some psychological effects for some (maybe even most) people, but nothing critical.
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### Author:  [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/8 "2009-02-10T21:49:06Z")
Yeah, with the nekkid cuddling that accompanies most sex for me, I’d at least feel a profound loss.
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### Author:  [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/9 "2009-02-10T21:50:29Z")
I assumed that no one believed in bad physical effects striking those who abstain, so they would have to mean bad psychological effects. I was just wondering what those psychological effects were supposed to be. I’ve never seen anyone name them specifically or give evidence for them.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/10 "2009-02-10T21:50:42Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#):
>
> This is something that’s puzzled me for quite a while. Recently a doper asserted that sex “cannot be abstained from without adverse effects”. There’s no need to single out that particular statement, since similar claims are made all the time.
I’ve heard this claim made about unspayed cats, but never about humans. I don’t seem to be doing too badly. I have read somewhere that regular sex helps ward against prostate cancer.
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/11 "2009-02-10T21:51:24Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#):
>
> I meant sex by the sixth grade sex ed class definition, not by the Bill Clinton definition. Oral sex is sex, masturbation is not.
Physically, is there anything you can get from sex that you can’t from masturbation? Anything besides an STD, I mean.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/12 "2009-02-10T22:26:34Z")
Not having children
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### Author:  [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/13 "2009-02-10T22:57:18Z")
> [@kanicbird](#):
>
> Not having children
Tell that to Mary.
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### Author:  [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/14 "2009-02-10T23:05:56Z")
Grumpiness.
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/15 "2009-02-10T23:06:20Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#):
>
> Physically, is there anything you can get from sex that you can’t from masturbation? Anything besides an STD, I mean.
Intimate contact with a partner.
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### Author:  [@HolyFreakingMoly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HolyFreakingMoly)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/16 "2009-02-10T23:06:53Z")
A really pissy mood.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/17 "2009-02-10T23:08:44Z")
I have read that men can have prostate problems if they don’t ejaculate, but I don’t think it matters whether it’s masturbation or intercourse. Of course I remember getting blueballs when I was a teenager and, not knowing the simple remedy, thinking I was bloody dying.
People with active sex lives (especially in a devoted relationship) tend to live longer. I think much of this is the human interaction however. Sex isn’t that great as exercise after all- better than being totally sedentary but nothing like regular cardio in its benefits.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/18 "2009-02-10T23:08:52Z")
> [@HolyFreakingMoly](#):
>
> A really pissy mood.
Well, maybe not. Do water sports count as sex?
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/19 "2009-02-10T23:11:27Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#):
>
> Intimate contact with a partner.
If oral sex and mutual masturbation were included in the OP’s definition of sex, I’d agree with this. But they’re not. So unless gay couples can’t achieve the level of intimacy of straight couples, this doesn’t cut it.
Not having sex is one thing. Being in love with someone with a strong sex drive and wanting to spend your life with them– but still not having sex? Yeah, I can see that creating some psychological difficulties.
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### Author:  [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-adverse-effects-of-not-having-sex/485275/20 "2009-02-10T23:12:27Z")
You start to believe only you know the proper way to have sex morally and want dictate and impose those morals to everyone around you.
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