Dear Dr. Milrod:

How long does a typical 40-year-old male stay erect? In porno movies, they’re up for 30 minutes straight. I assume that’s editing.

Disbeliever

Dear Disbeliever:

I certainly do not have an answer that will fit everyone and all. A penis belonging to a healthy pre-andropausal male will stay erect when stimulated; it will also depend on the nature of the stimulus and who does what to whom. Of course, the same healthy male will eventually ejaculate if the stimulation continues, and there really is no average for that one. Of course porno movies are edited. But it is not an impossibility whatsoever for a 40 year old male to stay erect for 30 minutes, as long as something is happening for 30 minutes. As to just absentmindedly walking around your house with an erection for 30 minutes straight with nothing to encourage it – no, I would almost call that priapism, to the point of being painful. Is it possible? Yes, of course it is.

Christine Milrod, Ph.D.