sexual-performanceGenerally, alcohol impairs our judgement, makes us overestimate our abilities etc.
Does it also affect a person’s sexual performance? For instance, does it affect his/hers ability to reach orgasm?
The answer to this question differs quite a bit for men and women.
For men the effect is quite immediate, reducing bloodflow to the penis. Men, on average, have more difficulty sustaining an erection the more alcohol is consumed. Orgasm is also affected:
Increasing levels of alcohol intoxication, as measured by blood‐alcohol concentration, produced significant degradation in male masturbatory effectiveness. Employing psychophysiological indices of orgasm and several subjective criteria, a progressive and systematic effect of alcohol on the orgasmic‐ejaculatory response was found.
Source: Alcohol effects on the orgasmic‐ejaculatory response in human males
For women it seems to be more complicated. Blood flow is decreased, similar to what happens in men, and orgasms have lower subjective intensity, but (at least in the following study) a greater pleasure was derived from it. I'm not sure if you include that in your definition of performance, if you do not the answer is roughly identical for men and women.
(...) 18 university women were sustained at four different blood alcohol concentrations (...). Measures of vaginal blood volume (...) showed a progressive and systematic depressant effect of alcohol on orgasmic responding.
Higher [blood alcohol concentrations] were associated with longer orgasmic latencies and decreased subjective intensity of orgasm, while, paradoxically, women reported significantly greater sexual arousal and orgasmic pleasurability under conditions of moderate and high alcohol intoxication.
Source: Acute alcohol intoxication and female orgasmic response
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