In 1967, the Beatles had a hit song in "All You Need Is Love."
Since the beginning of civilization, however, mankind - and men in particular - has struggled with a difficult problem: What if it takes more than just love to get it up?
Chocolate, oysters, ginseng, onions and asparagus are just a few on the long list of aphrodisiacs: a food, drink, drug, scent or device that users believe will make love-making easier by boosting sexual desire or libido.
"I think it's more association than anything else," said Eric Abbey, a former UB student. "When people think of chocolate, they might think of chocolate covered strawberries and champagne from a night of fun; then the association with chocolate and that night of fun is there. I don't think that eating chocolate causes any chemical balance and blood flow to the genitals."
Azeez Saka, a junior double majoring in exercise science and psychology, said that when it comes to food, the appeal is in what the person does and that the association more than the chemistry.
"It's not really the actual food itself, it's the way the person eats it," he said. "When a girl eats a banana, if she eats it erotically you imagine things and you can get turned on by that."
Before a little blue pill called Viagra took the country by steamy thunderstorm in the mid-1990s, aphrodisiacs were prescribed by doctors and herbalists and could even be purchased over the counter to combat problems in the boudoir. Their effectiveness, then or now, remains in healthy debate between scientists and believers in alternative medicines.
Robert Pollack, a junior business major, said that he does not need aphrodisiacs to enjoy sex.
"I never tested it out if they work," he said. " I'm always horny so nothing needs to help me"
"Many cultures have aphrodisiacs," said Robert Dentan, professor of American Studies and Anthropology at UB. "They are important to most cultures because sex is so important."
Dentan said that many cultures' need to believe in aphrodisiacs and their problems with sex are connected to one central problem - power.
According to Dentan, cultural forces place men in a position to forego pleasure in sex and instead exert their control over lovers.
"Men are taught love is bad and power is good," said Dentan.
He related sex inside the male mind to conquering. "The metaphor for power is 'prick'," he added.
Yet when sexual problems plague a man, he loses more than just the pleasure of orgasm, according to Dentan.
"Guys feel completely powerless if they don't get laid," he said.
As an herbalist, Patra Mangus has sold aphrodisiacs in East Buffalo since 1969.
Around her shop, Bi-Nutrients, in the pedestrian arcade of Broadway Market, specialty teas, herb-filled bags and exotically named bottles line the walls.
Mangus described her customer base for aphrodisiacs: "Men and women buying them for men, 10 to 1."
Though products like Top Gun, Nitro, Staminex, Horniest Goat Weed and All Night Long claim to help men struggling to catch their stride, Mangus said she often prescribes Yohimbine, an alkaloid obtained from the bark of the African yohimbe tree.
"I've been selling it for 20 years," said Mangus.
Mangus said doctors commonly prescribed Yohimbine to men, but the advent of Viagra changed all that. "Viagra has done for men today what the pill did for women in the '60s," she said.
According to Mangus, testosterone plays the key role in arousal problems.
"Testosterone controls the sex drive," she said.
According to Mangus, products containing Yohimbine are thought to stimulate the male body's hormones, increasing the ability of men to get and hold an erection.
Though products containing Yohimbine reportedly help men with erectile dysfunction, skeptics say aphrodisiacs like the African bark extract are useless and even dangerous.
The aphrodisiac Spanish Fly is thought to stimulate erections in men and make women lose their morals, but it actually causes a burning sensation which may lead to an erection, or permanent damage to the kidneys and genitalia. Taken in large doses, Spanish Fly can be deadly.
When looking for natural remedies to often embarrassing problems, "Natural does not necessarily mean safer or cheaper," Mangus said.
Natural or not, outside help is often sought. In today's world, Viagra is a household brand-name aphrodisiac.
"I think that Viagra may be the first aphrodisiac that has an actual aphrodisiacal effect," said Dentan. "The solution for us is chemical."
According to Dentan, rethinking how American culture pigeonholes men into believing they need to "conquer to feel powerful, instead of truly making love, is an approach to easier sex and less debilitating stress."
"If you could get people to just relax and do it," he said with a smile.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
