There Are Just 3 Types of Porn Watchers—But Only 1 Is Healthy
Which one are you?
So much research about porn consumption, so little time to judge the consistency of researcher’s conclusions.
Some who study the habits of humans who like to watch other humans do the nasty have concluded it’s totally healthy! Others have basically found there may be something to all your mom’s scolding about those sticky mags under the bed back in the day. Then there’s this study, which falls somewhere between those, uh, poles.
Research recently published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine indicated porn viewers fall into three broad categories: recreational, compulsive, and “at-risk.”
It’s easy to predict just from the names of the categories that the research concluded only “recreational” users were considered healthy porn consumers. They are generally less compulsive, less likely to avoid their issues, and more satisfied.
Here’s how the researchers broke down the differences between the allegedly healthier recreational users and the other categories:
Recreational users reported higher sexual satisfaction and lower sexual compulsivity, avoidance, and dysfunction, whereas users with a compulsive profile presented lower sexual satisfaction and dysfunction and higher sexual compulsivity and avoidance. Highly distressed less active users were sexually less satisfied and reported less sexual compulsivity and more sexual dysfunction and avoidance. A larger proportion of women and of dyadic users was found among recreational users, whereas solitary users were more likely to be in the highly distressed less active profile and men were more likely to be in the compulsive profile.
Here’s the good news for guys trying to make sense of this information: it seems to hint that if a woman is cool with porn, considers it fun and no big deal, she’s a pretty healthy person all around.
If you’ve got the patience to pick through the scientific jargon, the Université Laval in Quebec-based researchers have published their full findings after surveying 830 potential porn watchers here.
It’s worth it to note they write near the end that their “findings suggest that cyberpornography users represent a heterogeneous population in which engaging in this activity” isn’t unhealthy, strange, or weird for individuals. They go on to conclude only a small percentage could “benefit from interventions targeting the presence or absence of compulsions and associated distress.”
In the end, as with many other fun pursuits unfortunately called “vices,” the message seems to be as long as you’re having fun and doing it in moderation, go right ahead, shut the door, and get your porn on.
h/t New York Post
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