Back in the day, those old strings of LED Christmas lights were somewhat of a nuisance. If one bulb blew out, the rest did too.

You would either have to throw the string out or try replacing every single bulb until the burnt out bulb was found and replaced.

The functioning of the string of Christmas lights depended on every single bulb working properly.

Luckily, we now have LED lights where a bulb can blow, but the other bulbs continue to shine, the string of lights twinkle on.

We can then choose if we want to fix the blown bulb, but either way, we can still use the string to lights to keep Christmas going.

And such is the case with sexual function.

The human body is designed like the new LED Christmas lights than the old. If one component of sexual function changes or ‘stops working’, this does not necessarily impact the rest.

Just because one type of function is not working as it used to (such as erectile function after prostate surgery) does not mean orgasm, pleasure and sex are not possible.

You can still ‘light up your Christmas tree’ so to speak.

I feel it’s important that every man going through prostate surgery knows this.

Orgasm, pleasure, erection, ejaculation, arousal, even sexual confidence and identity are all on the same kind of ‘circuit’, but when one stops, it does not mean everything stops.

Special mention to psychologist Dr. Andrea Beck for introducing me to this analogy!

Image by Jasmin Schreiber