Birds & Bees: Sexual Myths And Acne

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Ahem…no sniggering at the back there. This is a serious topic and will be dealt with as such. Whatever else we know or do not know about acne, one thing we are sure of is that masturbation causes acne. 100 percent. No, wait a minute: you’ve got it wrong, acne only happens if you don’t have sex for, like, three years at a stretch or something. Wrong, wrong, wrong. When I was 15 or so, and struggling to come to terms with pimples so large they could only be called warts, well-intentioned adults who should have known better drilled the above into my head.

Having wept throughout my misguided teenage, I can now see why people associate teenage sexual activity with acne. The simple fact is that when one reaches puberty, the body goes through certain hormonal changes that bring about maturity in a person’s sexual characteristics. You know, deepening voices, expanding chests, sprouting of hair in certain areas, and so forth. NO SNIGGERING, I said. Now, because these hormonal changes may also be the cause of acne, you have a readymade base for the acne-sex myth. QED.

The bottom line is that there is no scientific truth to the belief that certain types of sexual activity (or inactivity) cause acne. In fact, clinical experiments – involving adult male rhesus monkeys, our close relatives – have been conducted to disprove the belief. And if all this does not convince you, here’s my clinching argument: have you seen a eunuch with acne?