Premature ejaculation (PE) is a condition in which a man ejaculates earlier than he or his partner would like him to. Premature ejaculation is also known as rapid ejaculation, rapid climax, premature climax, or early ejaculation.
Masters and Johnson defines PE as the condition in which a man ejaculates before his sex partner achieves
orgasm, in more than fifty percent of their sexual encounters. Other[
who?]
sex researchers have defined premature ejaculation as occurring if the man ejaculates within two minutes of
penetration; however, a survey by
Alfred Kinsey in the 1950s demonstrated that three quarters of men ejaculate within two minutes of penetration in over half of their sexual encounters.
Most men experience premature ejaculation at least once in their lives. Because there is great variability in both how long it takes men to ejaculate and how long both partners want sex to last, if at all, researchers have begun to form a quantitative definition of premature ejaculation.
Current evidence supports an average
intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) of six and a half minutes in 18-30 year olds.
If the disorder is defined as an IELT percentile below 2.5, then premature ejaculation could be suggested by an IELT of less than about 2 minutes. Nevertheless, it is possible that men with abnormally low IELTs could be "happy" with their performance and do not report a lack of control. Likewise men with higher IELTs may consider themselves premature ejaculators, suffer from detrimental side effects normally associated with premature ejaculation, and even benefit from treatment
