Every Friday on the blog, I answer people’s questions about sex, love, and relationships. This week’s question comes from a reader who wanted to know the following:

“So we know that for men orgasm and ejaculation do not always occur at the same time. Is it dangerous to hold the base of the penis right before ejaculation so that orgasm can occur but ejaculation doesn't?”

Good question! First, you’re absolutely right to point out that orgasm and ejaculation are not the same thing. Although these two processes usually co-occur, it is possible for a man to orgasm without ejaculating, just as it is possible for a man to ejaculate without having an orgasm (this is very rare, and is known as ejaculatory anhedonia or anaesthetic ejaculation).

As for the practice you described of intentionally preventing ejaculation during an orgasm, this is sometimes referred to as "injaculation" or the "Hughes' technique" on internet forums and message boards. Many of these forums claim that this behavior is a risk factor for developing retrograde ejaculation. In case you’re not familiar, retrograde ejaculation occurs when the sphincter that sits between the prostate and bladder does not close tightly enough during ejaculation. This causes semen to be expelled into the bladder instead of outside the body. While this isn’t necessarily harmful (the semen will simply exit the body the next time he urinates), it does render a man infertile.

However, I can't find a single scientific source to back up the idea that “injaculation” causes this or any other problem. If any such research exists, it must be hiding well because I have searched pretty thoroughly.

Also, I don’t have any good reason to suspect that injacultion is inherently dangerous. In fact, preventing ejaculation by holding the base of the penis is actually a technique that sex therapists commonly recommended to guys with premature ejaculation who are learning to last longer in bed. This is known as the squeeze technique, and the idea is this: for a guy with premature ejaculation, he can learn to increase his sexual stamina by (1) starting sex, (2) stopping all stimulation and squeezing the base of the penis when he feels ejaculation is about to occur, (3) letting those sensations subside, then (4) starting over and repeating the cycle. Practicing this over and over ultimately produces better ejaculatory control in many guys and it is one of the most successful behavioral methods of treating premature ejaculation.

A few men have also reported using the squeeze technique in order to gain the ability to have multiple orgasms. For instance, consider this finding from a study of multiply orgasmic men [1]: "One subject, 55, had been a premature ejaculator for many years. In sex therapy about 10 years earlier he learned the squeeze technique with good result. Somewhat later, he read about women's multiple orgasms and saw this as a challenge. After some experimenting, he was able to separate orgasm from ejaculation and have two or more orgasms during one sexual encounter."

Overall, there isn’t a lot of research on the effects of preventing ejaculation during orgasm; however, I’d urge you to have a healthy dose of skepticism about the claims of danger you see posted on internet forums because there just isn't any science to back them up.

For previous editions of Sex Question Friday, click here. To send in a question for a future edition, click here.

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[1] Dunn, M. E., & Trost, J. E. (1989). Male multiple orgasms: A descriptive study. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 18(5), 377-387.

Image Source: iStockphoto

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