Welcome to world of aphrodisiacs! Aphrodisiac, comes from Aphrodite the Greek Goddess of sexual love and beauty. Aphrodisiacs are substances that are commonly believed to arouse or increase sexual desire and improve sexual performance or libido. They can be in the form of food, drink, drug, scent, visual or any other method, which acts as sexual stimulants.

With Jasjit and Annie mentioning some of these aphrodisiacs in my earlier post on ‘Peddling Libido’ I thought of doing a Google search and finding out more about these ‘love potions’. Tiger penis, black bear gall bladder, rhino horn, sea-harp penis and oil extracted from their body (by clubbing them to death), bull testicles, choose your pick, all come under aphrodisiacs due to the speculative association which holds that the essence of the strength of these animals can be refined from their sexual body parts. Gulping down these body parts will mean transferring the energy of the fierce tiger, the raging bull or the charging rhino into unbounded sexual energy!

The myth that Aphrodite was born from the sea, gives many sea plants and seafood the reputation of being an aphrodisiac. Oyster is perhaps one of the best examples. Fruits, vegetables and other food products are often considered aphrodisiacs because of the ‘law of similarity’, that is, their visual resemblance to the human sexual organs. Basic intelligence or what! For instance oysters, bananas, figs, avocados, asparagus, the Chinese herb ginseng, all supposedly possess sexual potency.

Banana for instance is a symbol of fertility and sexual power both for its phallic shape (sic!) and for the banana flower, which holds within its layers the tiny fruits (symbolically associated with ‘seed’ or semen). The slippery and clam like form of the oyster is associated with the female vagina. The herb Ginseng, meaning ‘man root’ (since it resembles the lower trunk and limbs of a man) contains certain fibres which ‘swell’ in contact with water which gives it the appearance of an erect penis. Similarly the sea cucumber is called the "Ginseng of the Sea," because it has a long, thick, muscular form that inflates to the touch.

This is one end of the spectrum where legends, myths, visual resemblance, symbolic associations all related to the folklore, lead to the belief that digestion or tactile interaction with the substance will transfer sexual potency from the substance to the individual. At the other end of the spectrum are internal aphrodisiacs, which draw their potency from their physical and chemical effects on the body. These components once ingested, simulate sexual arousal. Eating a spicy chili makes us sweat, a characteristic of a sexual encounter, and the body may interpret this as sexual arousal.

While spicy food, chocolates, coffee are some of the milder aphrodisiacs that bring about physiological changes and simulate sexual arousal, certain drugs such as the Spanish Fly, infamous as aphrodisiac, made of the pulverized wings of the cantharides beetle, bring about physiological changes that create “fire” and “passion”. This “fire” and “passion” is nothing but a result of an irritation caused by the drug in the urogenital tract, which by increasing the blood flow to the area, can induce an erection. Spanish fly is actually toxic and can cause burns in mouth, throat, urinary infection, bloody discharge, damage to kidney and genitals, prolonged and painful erection and also death.

Certain aphrodisiacs are said to cause sedative and anesthetic effects. Such products applied directly to the penis, leads to a general tingling and anesthetization of the area which may stem premature ejaculation and increase the duration of sexual activity.

And of course how can we forget visual aphrodisiacs such as pornography, strip tease bars, titillating video/music albums, magazines etc. or alcohol and drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin which are considered as taking the body to a sexual high.

The list of aphrodisiacs is endless as has been the quest of men for methods to induce sexual arousal, heighten sexual experience and improve performance. In the 16th-century Arabic love guide The Perfumed Garden, tales were spun of the priapic lover who remained constantly erect for 30 straight days simply by gobbling onions through the course of his lovemaking! The cacao bean harvest (the bean from which chocolate is derived) for the Aztecs created orgiastic rituals that went on for weeks. The Aztec emperor Monteczuma drank fifty golden goblets of chocolate a day in order to enhance his sexual ability!

According to modern science there is no substantive evidence to prove that popular aphrodisiacs such as chocolates, coffee, oysters and other such ‘sexy’ food items or rubbing and consuming animal products and parts can actually bring about the desired sexual effects. (Though certain herbs and plants, which are termed as aphrodisiacs, do have certain medicinal value that strengthen body functions and increase energy and stamina and have an overall healthy effect on the body.) Yet the belief in aphrodisiacs as sexual stimulant continues to reign the minds of men all over the world from China, India, Korea, and Indonesia to the United States, Europe, and Canada. It is a known fact that men are the primary consumers of aphrodisiacs.

Evolution of the human species and the environment has brought us a long way ahead in many respects. We have evolved both in terms of our morphology as well us our intellect; we have made huge leaps and bounds in the field of science, medicine, technology and communication; studied and understood the contours of the planet that we live in and of the larger galaxy, walked the moon, visited mars, made tremendous advance in reducing man’s susceptibility and vulnerability to natural disasters and diseases; socially and culturally too we have come a long way. Today the human intellect and the knowledge that it holds or that which is available to it is in abundance and also easily accessible.

In the absence of this knowledge our ancestors derived their knowledge from nature. Symbolic associations between himself and objects present in his immediate environment were one of the ways in which he tried to find solutions to his problems. But today for a man to crush a goat’s penis, mix it with milk and drink it in hope that it will increase his libido and enhance his sexual performance is pathetic. A definite sign of a morphed evolution, where his intellectual growth seems buried under the backlog in his sexual evolution.

While his intellectual world has expanded his sexual world is still shrouded in fear fuelled by stereotyped notions of male sexuality. Sexual desire is limited to ‘virility’, performance and of course the ubiquitous penis. Aphrodisiacs are a product of fear. Violence, aggression towards animals and other human beings, exposing one’s own body to toxins, addiction and dependence on external objects for attaining sexual desire are all outcomes of the mind trying to overcome this fear.

This fear needs to be faced upfront and tackled none other than but by men themselves. Men who believe they to belong to the intellectual world need to also come out of the silence and the indifference that they exhibit when issues pertaining to male sexual fears and practices arise. After all most of the time male ‘performance’ is directed towards approval or proving manhood to other men. Washing your hands off the issue or laughing it off by terming it as an ‘obsession with sex’ is only going to worsen the situation and increase the gap between the mind and the body, obstructing a wholesome evolution of masculinity and sexuality.