When it comes to sex, performance anxiety is very common.
In males, it typically plays out in two ways: (1) difficulty getting and/or maintaining erection; and (2) ejaculating too quickly (however that's defined).
In females, performance anxiety tends to be focused on having an orgasm.
Performance anxiety can be a mere annoyance or distraction for some people; for others, it can seriously ruin their sex lives.
In France, back in 16th and 17th centuries, male performance anxiety took on a whole new and scary meaning. Husbands who were accused on being unable to consummate their marriages could be brought before the court to prove their virility.
From the SmartSet:
Standing Un In Court
In the dreaded French impotence trials, performance anxiety took on new meaning.
By Tony Perrottet
Think the Spanish Inquisition was harsh? Just as intimidating to many men were the French impotence courts of the 16th and 17th centuries, when husbands charged with erectile dysfunction were obliged to prove their virility before witnesses.
A husband’s inability to perform was one of the few reasons that the Church would allow a marriage to be annulled, so disgruntled women who could afford the legal costs would regularly charge their husbands with “injurious non-consummation” before ecclesiastical courts.
[…]
The onus was placed on the husband to demonstrate his powers of erection before an expert team of priests, surgeons, and midwives. These learned observers would carefully examine his equipment to reach an opinion on its “elastic tension” and “natural motion,” before demanding “proof of ejaculation.” Many men found that their powers would fade on first examination. “Just looking at you makes me shrivel,” one humiliated husband moaned to his tormentors.
Any man who failed this test had only one recourse to avoid becoming a laughing-stock. He could demand Trial by Congress, wherein he would carry out his conjugal duty before the team of experts as 100 percent proof that he could perform.
Read the rest here: link.