The Asian Erectile Dysfunction Advisory Council and Training (EDACT) Group's latest survey may use rather vivid imagery to describe its subjects' manhood, but one physician said the measurements work.
EDACT conducted a telephone survey of 1,009 Taiwanese men and then classified each man's manhood in one of four groups -- cucumbers, bananas, peeled bananas and conjac jelly.
These groups are supposed to correspond to the erection hardness score (EHS) which goes from one to four, according to Huang Yi-sheng (黃一勝), chief physician at Shinkong Hospital's urology department.
"It's a rough and ready measure, but it corresponds quite well to more sophisticated indices such as the IIEF or the QEQ," Huang told a press conference sponsored by Pfizer, the makers of Viagra.at a press conference, yesterday.
IIEF is the International Index of Erectile Function and the QEQ stands for the Quality of Erection Questionnaire. Huang did not mention whether either of those scales also have their vegetable equivalents.
Seventy-four percent of Taiwanese men fall into the "cucumber" category according to the survey, meaning that they have no erectile dysfunction. Twenty-three percent were designated as "unpeeled bananas," meaning they suffer mild dysfunction, but are still able to have penetrative sex.
"Peeled bananas," at 2 percent, and "conjac jellies," at 1 percent of the population, have moderate and severe erectile dysfunction respectively.
"The old thinking is that if you can maintain penile erection, you do not have erectile dysfunction; the new understanding is related to satisfactory sexual performance" said Andrew McCullough, associate professor of urology at New York University School of Medicine, speaking at the same news conference.
"Those with mild erectile dysfunction might be having sex almost as often as those without erectile dysfunction. The difference comes in their and their partner's level of satisfaction," McCullough said. "We used to tell those patients not to worry. But now, with the new generation of erectile dysfunction drugs, it makes no sense not to help them."
When asked whether those with mild erectile dysfunction might try other measures to improve their sex life before turning to medication, McCullough said "Of course."
"Exercise, smoking cessation and being more spontaneous with your partner can all be very helpful," he said. "But ultimately it is very hard to change human behavior."
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe