I was talking to Dr. Mark Goulston recently and our conversation turned to how this recession is affecting guys. If you don't know Mark, he's a clinical psychiatrist, a business advisor, was at one time the male voice on iVillage.com, and also trained FBI and police hostage negotiators.

He's also known for his many radio and television appearances, where he sometimes causes controversy for some off the things he says. Things that happen to be completely true and backed by research and science - but that a lot of people (read: your wives and girlfriends), may not want to hear. And are hilarious to watch while the female hosts give him death looks at first, and then eventually come around to his side. Which brings up what Mark was telling me about dealing with stress and pressure.

According to the good doctor, women deal with tension by verbal venting ("You won't believe what Beth did today..."), but guys deal with tension by having sex. And while our female counterparts need someone to be listening when they vent, we don't even need a partner for our release.

Which is why Dr. Goulston tells women to let their husbands/boyfriends enjoy porn. Or at least not make us feel ashamed for tugging it to those amateur videos we love so much. According to an advice column he wrote on relationships: "Pornography and masturbation (in moderation) have probably saved more marriages than they have hurt." (You can read the whole piece here.) That's some doctor's advice I can listen to.

He's also suggested to women that they let their stressed out guys "use them" for therapeutic sexual release. So we don't have to go sneaking around on the Interwebs, or cruise prostitutes, to relieve tension. Here's a clip of Mark on the TV show MarsVenus, arguing his point. The look on Cybill Shephard's face? Classic. The BBW chick? She's right on board.