Is Netflix killing sex nights?
From the couch to the pundits’ couch, as complaints about the lack of sex spent on screens have gained traction. The fault is often in the episode marathons. “With that, like other marathons are left behind”, says sexologist Marta Crawford. “It is compromising the erotic life in general”, warns Júlio Machado Vaz
PUB
Episode after episode, season after season. Of course you have a story to tell your friends. As if, in doing so, he was bragging about a great achievement. But if you dedicate so much time to the screens, even if accompanied by half, there are other things, which will be left behind. On the sofa, entertainment becomes just visual.
“With that, like other marathons are left behind”, says sexologist Marta Crawford. Complaints of lack of sex for too much time devoted to televisions have long been sitting with clients in his office. And each year, the lamentations become more recurrent. “There was even a time when it wasn’t ‘cool’ to have a television in the bedroom, but all other screen modalities came into play. When couples lie down, they are with a lot of people in bed”.
PUB
In the bed in the no, there was a sofa bed in the expression “Netx and Chill” which was the expression “Netx and Chill” was more a sofa for casual sex among the younger ones. But the “chill” seems to have cooled down and is now mere relaxation. More content to see forcing you to change old habits.
PUB
PUB
PUB
Júlio Machado Vaz, psychiatrist and sexologist, confirms that the concern with the topic is growing. “One thing that has been emerging is the real marathons of those affected. There is an idea that, in principle, at the weekend we have more time for each other. I hear people tell me with a smile that they’ve watched three seasons of a certain series. And the person was there infamous for everything else. Sometimes they say it’s magnificent.”
And other times, it’s just the beginning of a spiral without the relationship, even if the couple comes back together to watch each episode. “It’s compromising the erotic life in general. Then it spreads to all the couple’s communication”, summarizes Júlio Machado Vaz.
Stimulation in the series: Inspiration or?
It is not uncommon to find, among the most viewed of streaming platforms such as Netflix, series where sex is the strong ingredient. But, in the face of visual stimulation, couldn’t couples feel inspired like their sex lives? Specialists point out that this is a two-way path: it brings new things but also opens up the risk of greater frustrations.
PUB
PUB
PUB
“There are more and more couples who, in their erotic arsenal, include films with erotic content, which they watch together, which they say turns them on and translates into a richer sex life. It fantasizes them even more. The problem is when what we consume distances itself from our emotional and sexual reality”, confirms Marta Crawford.
Men and women tend to have different. They prefer more immediate action, they like a seductive line. And what they see, together or not, tends to guide them. “It can happen that what is seen, for example, establishes certain patterns that do not mimic the usual life of couples. There, any of the members of the couple, but more often in the men, can have a feeling of not being up to the couple they are seeing. It’s the so-called performance pressure”, says the sexologist. Or horny, as they say in these meanders.
PUB
PUB
PUB
Science looking for answers
At an early stage of the relationship, watching series can even be part of the conquest game. With their bodies together, under the warmth of the blanket. But with the passage of time and comfort, things can change. “Sometimes couples are together, but watching different series”, each one on their tablet, summarizes Marta Crawford.
In each relationship, there are different rhythms. And in heterosexuals, women tend to go to bed earlier than men. Hence their complaints are more needed in the specialists of the specialists. “It is increasingly rare to go to bed at the same time, which complicates erotic life”, says Júlio Machado Vaz.
And with marathons, even if they get to bed together, they do so late – and without energy. The pleasure of getting to the end of the episode is more engaging than the pleasure of the flesh. And even the next morning, there will be one out of bed earlier than the other.
Over the past few years, science has posed the question: are screens killing couples’ sexual desire? One of the most cited studies in the press, from 2018, carried out by the University of Lancaster, reveals that the time of greatest internet consumption is between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm, with the rise of streaming services. A time when, in the past, sexual practice was provided.
PUB
PUB
PUB
A study by the Faculty of Psychology and Education Science of the University of Porto revealed that, since the pandemic, 47% of respondents have had less sex and that 40% admit an increase in sexual satisfaction. Numbers of one in which many Portuguese are looking for more time at home, what to do.