So, which of the power holders combated with impotence and lost?
Dwight Eisenhower
The President of the United States was long and, supposedly, happily married.
But years later, information got out that his relationship with his secretary Kay had gone beyond the working one. Sex was a failure, and Dwight allegedly claimed after his nonperformance that he hadn’t thought about sex for many years and that he had failed because all his virility had been killed by his family life.
Rumor has it that he tried to treat the disease, but nothing helped. Perhaps it was too late.
Charles II of Spain
Charles ascended to the throne in 1665. His huge head and deformed lower jaw made him butt-ugly.
In addition to his ugliness, he was also very sick as he came of the Habsburgs where incest had been encouraged for generations.
Someone once said, “Charles I was a warrior and a king, Philip II was only a king, Philip III and Philip IV were only men, and Charles II was not even a man.” He suffered from fever, diarrhea, mental disability and erectile dysfunction. He did not trust any doctors and refused to take any treatment.
He died at 38, leaving no children to heir, while led to the years-long War of the Spanish Succession.
Peter III of Russia
The soon-to-be Empress Catherine waited in vain for her husband on their wedding night – he, being a drunkard, just got drunk and hit the sack.
Nor did Catherine know that Peter was unable to be her hundred-percent fulfilling husband because of phimosis (inability to retract the foreskin covering the head of the penis).
There is a speculation that Emperor Paul I was born to Catherine and her favorite Sergey Saltykov rather than her husband.
Henry IV of Castile, King of Castile and León
In vain did he pin hopes on the marriage to the Portuguese princess Joan, for his previous 13-year long one had been childless as the King’s wife had remained a virgin.
The Portuguese gave their Infanta to Henry only provided that a child be born, and should no conception occur, Joan would return home.
Henry hoped to make his potency good with the aid of some device invented by a University of Padua doctor, which was a golden tube that would help Henry’s seed get inside Joan. She did give birth to a child – a daughter who went down in history as Beltraneja, since her father was handsome Count Beltrán de Ledesma, the King’s favorite.
The civil war, which broke out as a result of the attempt to crown bastard Beltraneja queen, eventually enthroned Henry’s half-sister Isabella.
Christian VII of Denmark
In the 17th century, King Christian VII’s favorite pastime was masturbation.
The King’s self-gratification became a real state problem. Christian VII was mentally sick (according to some sources, he suffered from schizophrenia) and could masturbate for hours.
The government could not get their ruler to hike up his pants and turn his attention to the affairs of state.
At government meetings, which Christian did attend, he masturbated uncontrollably.
Henry VI of England
The modest King Henry VI took no interest in the intimate moments of life at all. In fact, he was impotent.
One day his faithful friends and members of the government decided to surprise him and sent some naked dancers to his room.
The King’s reaction was unexpected.
Henry VI ran out of the room appalled and shouting, “Ew! What a disgrace!”
When his wife Margaret of Anjou announced she was pregnant, the monarch nearly fainted. According to the court gossip, the Duke of Somerset conceived that child.
Erectile dysfunction is the man’s persistent or recurrent inability to get and/or keep an erection firm enough to have and complete successful sexual intercourse.
“Erectile dysfunction” is usually diagnosed when a man is unable to keep an erection in over 25% of the sexual intercourses he attempts to have. According to American researchers, more than 150 million men over 40 suffer from this disorder worldwide. But right now, the appointments with me are made mostly by men in their 30s.
Erectile dysfunction can be organic, psychogenic or mixed.
Sexual Performance Anxiety is a sexual phobic disorder, and it refers to psychogenic erectile dysfunctions. So, SPA is a phobia or neurosis.
Sure enough, SPA has existed since Homo sapiens evolved, but it was described and so named only in the 1980s.
Here are a few SPA definitions given by leading sex therapists:
– In Western literature, SPA is known as the “fear of sexual failure”. The main thing in this syndrome is the worries/fear of being unable to perform or failing to complete sexual intercourse. Such worries/fear manifest themselves to the utmost when and where sex is to happen, which, as a rule, impairs sexual functions due to deautomatization thereof.
– Anxiety neurosis, both as an independent disease and a syndrome in any other disorder, represents the most frequent reaction of a person to failed sexual intercourse. This primary dysfunction is based on the obsessive fear of failing sexual intercourse.
How does SPA manifest itself?
So, what happens when one has SPA? What symptoms serve as a red flag?
It is a “failure”, meaning the erection is weak, not firm enough for penetration, or the erection dies out during or before intercourse.
Simply put, the erection gets weaker as sex nears. Certain psychosomatic manifestations may be present too, which are hot flashes, palpitations, sweating, dizziness, pain in the lower abdomen or penile region.
Below is the portrait of SPA!
SPA CYCLE
As you can see from the diagram, SPA is a cycle of anxiety or panic. It very much looks like a panic attack.
I came across the SPA signs described in Internet that have nothing to do with the one, and it drives me to cite them here so that You wouldn’t think it’s SPA:
1. Aversion to your partner. This is NOT a sign of SPA, it is rather indicative of Sexual Aversion (sexual disgust), and if it lasts more than six months, it is unfortunately incurable.
2. Premature ejaculation. It is NOT a sign of SPA, it can accompany it but is a separate problem that needs be thoroughly examined without attributing it to SPA.
3. Anejaculation. This is NOT a sign of SPA and calls for meticulous independent examination.
4. Decreased sexual desire is NOT a sign of SPA, if you have tired yourself out so much that you do not want to have sex or are afraid of it, and it is more of fear of intimacy. A person suffering from true SPA has libido, at least in the early stages thereof.
5. Pain and burning sensation during intercourse. It’s NOT a sign of SPA and