Pornography use is a widespread means of dealing with one's sexual drives. More than 90 percent of young men report watching porn videos with some regularity, particularly in the United States. Many of these videos depict acts that they might never engage in themselves—in other words, erotic fantasies .
Pornography and Relationships
There is no question that porn use can create distress for individuals or couples. Porn is a common source of conflict in relationships, research finds, primarily when one partner has been hiding their use knowing that the other would disapprove or consider it to be an act of infidelity . Joint counseling can help partners understand each other’s sexual interests and negotiate what is and is not acceptable in their relationship going forward. But it is more likely, many psychologists believe, that disputes about porn use will be found to be driven by other more critical underlying sexual or relationship issues that need to be addressed.
Research finds a correlation between porn use and the likelihood of future breakups, but the effect is not necessarily based on the use of porn itself but whether a partner disapproves of it. Psychologists urge partners to discuss potentially divisive issues like porn use before getting married to avoid potentially devastating disputes in the future.
Many therapists agree that couples’ disputes about porn are generally about deeper issues . A partner may assume the other knows they disapprove of porn use but may never have openly discussed it, or other core values. Or someone may believe porn use is a sign that a partner has withdrawn from the relationship, but that concern tends to be based on an accumulation of signals.
The belief that porn use leads to erectile dysfunction (ED) is generally not accurate . Studies have found that men who reported both frequent porn use and ED were also the subjects most likely to hold the most conservative views about sex and religion; in other words, the distress they felt about their porn use likely influenced their experience of ED.
Explore More About Porn Addiction
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