Park et al. 2016 — Is internet pornography causing sexual dysfunctions? A review with clinical reports

What the study found

Park and colleagues reviewed clinical cases of younger men reporting erectile dysfunction, delayed ejaculation, decreased sexual satisfaction, and diminished libido during partnered sex, and argued that the factors that used to explain such difficulties look insufficient to account for their sharp rise in men under 40. ^[1]

traditional factors that once explained men's sexual difficulties appear insufficient to account for the sharp rise in erectile dysfunction

^[1]

Crucially, the authors framed their own contribution as "a series of clinical reports" offered with "the aim of proposing a possible direction for future research" — a hypothesis to be studied, not established causation. ^[1]

Why it matters here

This paper is the most-cited scientific reference behind the "porn-induced erectile dysfunction" narrative. Read on its own terms, it raises internet pornography as a candidate cause worth investigating — it does not demonstrate that porn causes ED. That distinction is central to the check on whether porn causes erectile dysfunction: the claim treats a labelled hypothesis as settled fact, whereas the review itself calls for the controlled, longitudinal studies that would be needed to test the idea.