Why do guys get boners?

+85 votes
asked Feb 18, 2018 in Relationships by Lorenzo25N2 (230 points)
edited Dec 13, 2018
I’m still a teen and stun so probably at that age where I get this a lot. Getting randomly stiff when I was on the bus where there is nothing I could do. I was told it was puberty that’s causing it. Why do guys get boners? What are they even? How did something so flaccid get so solid? Though I do understand that guys get hard when they get turned on.

4 Answers

+13 votes
answered May 13, 2018 by CathrynHindm (550 points)
edited Jul 19, 2019
Getting an erection is absolutely necessary in order to have sex since you need the boner to penetrate into the woman vagina in order to deliver sperms to the womb. Having it rock solid helps to in ejaculation, making it easier to straighten the channel to shoot out the sperm. So it is also an evolutionary advantage. Also having the sperm receiver deep inside the vagina prevents most infection from affecting the child.
+7 votes
answered Oct 8, 2018 by IrmaDoerr362 (320 points)
edited Mar 25, 2019
A boner can be caused by a reflex. When a guy has the urge to pee, often times he will get an erection if held for too long. On one hand, you can’t pee while having an erection, so you can hold it longer. On the other hand, you now have a boner. This is called a reflex erection. The nerves that control a man’s ability to summon a boner unwillingly are located along the sacral nerves of the spinal cord. When you have a full bladder, the bladder would lightly press on that nerves which cause the hard on. This is the similar mechanism in our body that caused “morning wood” or waking up with an erection, although it occurs about 5 times throughout the night sleep. It’s a totally natural routine of our body that is believed to keep the penis healthy because the body works in really mysterious and interesting ways.
commented Sep 15, 2015 by EKDRickie773 (140 points)
Thanks for your answer, I understand why do guys get boners now.
+1 vote
answered Aug 3, 2019 by MadeleineBow (230 points)
edited Aug 13, 2019
Why do guys get boners? Let’s start with the basic. A boner or erection occurs when there is an increased blood flow in the penis, the blood will travel through a series of veins and arteries, causing it to grow and harden. Essentially, a boner is a blood filled rod. While it is mainly caused by sexual arousal both physically and mentally, there could be other reasons, like puberty and morning wood (or the gender equivalent of women getting “wet”). Often times, the size or quality of the erection can be affected by both mental and physical health, something like an anxiety could entirely stop a guy from getting hard at all. So a guy gets a boner when he is sexually aroused and so your brain went full throttle and pump your penis with blood.
0 votes
answered Jun 9, 2018 by shorekid (200 points)
edited Jul 17, 2018
For me, a teen, it can be random, when sleeping, or when I have to go to the bathroom. Some times I can be doing nothing and it just pops up all by it self.
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