CARNAL NATION

Gary Kirsten, the coach of India’s cricket team, has caused a nation-wide stir by publishing a manual that suggests players have sex before their games. Equally controversial is his recommendation that those players without sexual partners engage in solo sex sessions to boost performance.

The GlobalPost reports on the player's manual and its controversial content: “From a psychological perspective, having sex increased testosterone levels, which causes an increase in strength, energy, aggression and competitiveness. Conversely, not having sex for a few months causes a significant drop in testosterone level in both males and females with the corresponding passiveness and decrease in aggression."

Sex can, in fact, increase testosterone levels just as other forms of cardiovascular exercise and weight loss can enhance hormonal levels. Sex that involves considerable movement can also boost energy levels, as physical activity helps to deliver oxygen and nutrients to bodily tissues. It can even improve your cardiovascular health if you move around enough to increase your heart rate.

“If you want sex but do not have someone to share it with, one option is to go solo whilst imagining you have a partner, or a few partners, who are as beautiful as you wish to imagine,” the manual explains. The South African coach’s approach to personal guidance for his players has generated heated controversy in India where some practicing Hindus value the exercise of sexual discipline or brahmacharya.

Others, however, laud the open dialogue on the highly-relevant, but seldom discussed topic of masturbation. India’s Deccan Chronicle comments, “All of a sudden, there is a permissiveness that reflects increasingly an overt sexuality on film and the television, on the streets and in homes and elsewhere. Maybe it is for the best that a matter more often than not sniggered at, or looked at with hastily-averted glances, is finally out in the open.”