We have very little data concerning sexual dysfunctions or inadequacies in preliterate or so-called less civilized societies. In the Irish folk community Inis Beag, women apparently do not achieve orgasm (Messenger, 1969) and thus, by modern Western definitions and standards, would be considered dysfunctional. As noted above, however, Inis Beag is a sexually repressive and sexually naive culture, and it is possible that the women of that society are not even aware of the possibility of female orgasm.
Jensen (1976) has reported that impotence, or the inability to obtain an erection, is a common problem in the Mangaian society, where it is given the status of a "disease." As described earlier, sexual intercourse is highly performance-oriented in Mangaia, with the male expected to bring his partner to orgasm several times and to delay his own climax for 15 to 20 minutes. Masters and Johnson (1970) have found such performance expectations to be strongly implicated in impotency among American men, and it is very likely that these same variables are significant in the etiology of impotence among Mangaian men.
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Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction
