What Causes Early Ejaculation?

What is 'premature ejaculation'? The 4th Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV), describes premature ejaculation as "...the recurrent or persistent start of ejaculation and orgasm with minimal sexual stimulation before, on, or right after penetration and before the person wishes it." It's labeled a mental health issue when it creates difficulties or causes emotional problems inside a relationship.

Officially the label for inability to control ejaculation is 'premature ejaculation'. The word 'premature' means "too early" or "before it is expected," as with a premature birth. The term 'premature ejaculation' (abbreviated to PE) implies that the man's climax was premature. So, just what is premature and who decides?

Men could unofficially label themselves as having premature ejaculation, while other men with similar control aren't bothered. These 'self diagnoses' are illustrated by the findings of Dr. Marilyn Safir from the University of Haifa. Her study found little difference in the length of intercourse between those men that considered themselves 'normal' and those that had applied for treatment of a sexual dysfunction.

In Alfred Kinsey's 1948 report called The Sexual Behavior of the Human Male, he mentioned that in a study of twelve-thousand American men, three quarters reached orgasm within 2 minutes. Most men would say that two minutes is simply too soon, and plenty of women would agree. In a study of 1,000 couples published in 1966, it was reported that the average duration of intercourse (from beginning to end although not necessarily with continuous thrusting) lasted between 4 and 7 minutes. These findings raise an intriguing point. If 75 percent of men climax in 2 to 7 minutes, who is more typical: a guy who lasts fifteen minutes or one who lasts two?

Another measure of coital success is the pleasure and results of sex from the woman's viewpoint. This was an endeavor to get away from a time centered definition. In this definition of premature ejaculation, it had been said a man had ejaculation problems if he orgasmed 50% of the time before his partner surely could climax. This theory was based on the presumption that women will climax during sexual intercourse if the man can last long enough.

It is bad logic to try to define male climax control in terms of his partner's capacity to come with vaginal stimulation, as our best estimates reveal that only about 30-35% of all women have ever had an orgasm with intercourse, and for many women it's stimulation of her clitoris, that is her orgasmic trigger. Thus, for most women, if we use her frequency of orgasm during sex as the way of measuring his control, most men could be called 'premature ejaculators' whether or not they were able to thrust for hours.