Adults report that they have watched porn at one time or another in their lives. It’s not uncommon for people to watch pornography even when they are in a romantic relationship. Porn is everywhere and readily available like AdultTime, the netflix of porn.
The question is: How can watching porn affect our relationships with each other? Were not talking about male masturbation here either.
Porn can be viewed as an addition by some people, or as a way to expand our sexuality and bridge the gap between our sexual encounters with our partner. Couples can learn about anal sex, double penetrations without guilt. Others may be concerned that pornography-watching partners is causing them to withdraw from their relationship, or even causing emotional disconnection.
What if you and your partner are watching porn together? Could watching porn together bring couples closer? Perhaps it can create unrealistic expectations of what sex should look like, which could lead to conflict in relationships. Remember a lot of porn can be shot in amazing locales which is great for fantasy discussion.
The Study
Researchers examined how pornography viewing habits could be associated with relationship adjustment, sexual intimacy and commitment, as well as physical and psychological aggression.
There were 1,234 participants recruited from the United States. 451 (35 percent) of them were men, and 783 (63 percent) were women. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 34 years (average age was 26.2), and 74.7 percent were White. All participants had to be in a relationship for at least 2 months and were not married at the start of the study.
Over the course of the two-year period, the participants received five surveys that asked them the following questions: “Does your partner look at erotic magazines, websites, or movies alone?” “Do you and/or your partner view erotic magazines, websites, or movies together?” One possible answer was “No.” “Yes sometimes.” “Yes often.”
Scales were also used to assess participants’ relationship adjustment, commitment, intimacy, and psychological and physical aggression perpetration, victimization.
Who is watching Porn?
All data collection points showed that 52.4 percent of participants said “no” to solitary viewing. 39.2 percent indicated that they “sometimes” view pornography by themselves. 8.4 percent indicated that they only viewed pornography “often.”
Concerning watching pornography together with a partner 56.7 percent of participants said “no”, 40.1 percent said “sometimes”, and 3.2 percent said “often”.
Notable gender differences were observed in porn viewing habits. This study revealed that 22.9 percent of men reported no solitary viewing. 58.1 percent reported viewing pornography only occasionally, and 19.0 percent said they often view pornography alone. Contrary to this, 66.7 percent of women said they did not view pornography alone and 29.4 percent said they saw it “occasionally”.
Most participants did not report any changes in their pornography viewing habits. The majority of the participants did not report any changes in their pornographic viewing habits over time. However, 8.3 to 12.3 percent of those surveyed reported watching more pornography alone while 8.5 percent to 10.4 per cent reported changing their viewing habits with their partner. The study did not include the effects of cannabis which has been a hot topic lately.
Relationship Quality and Porn Viewing Habits
After controlling for all variables, it was found that watching pornography alone led to lower levels of adjustment in relationships.
Increases in men watching porn alone were linked to a decline in their relationship adjustment and commitment. However, watching pornography alone was associated with increased emotional intimacy, relationship adjustment and commitment in women.
The study showed that watching pornography together is associated with increased sexual intimacy. Both men and women who increase their porn-watching together reported more sexual intimacy. Can porn viewing be healthy then?
What does this mean?
The findings of this study suggest that people who only watch pornography tend to have less-quality relationships.
Although pornography viewing can be fun and a great way to have fun with your partner, it could also indicate that you aren’t meeting certain needs in your relationship. It is unclear if porn viewing is taking precedence over time with one’s partner or if a less satisfying relationship is leading to someone viewing pornography more often than they should.
According to this study, women who watched more pornography than others had higher relationships quality. According to the authors, pornography may be an expression or result of some women’s sexual desires, sexuality and agency. It may not be that she is avoiding a relationship in order to watch porn. However, watching porn could be a personal exploration which can have a positive impact on her relationship.
Take Away
These findings are not relevant to what type of porn was being viewed by the participants.
These findings might not apply to all couples. Couples with strong communication skills, high levels of sexual intimacy and liberal beliefs are more likely to discover that watching porn together can be a positive way to explore their sexuality. Some couples enjoy watching the “Cum Orgasm Faces” which can spice up their own relationship. Some couples might decide that porn is not something they desire or need to be included in their relationships. Couples with negative views or high levels of conflict in their relationships may find watching porn together can intensify their concerns and cause them to have an adverse impact on their relationships.
