Pornography Use and Sexual Health among Same-Sex and Mixed-Sex Couples: An Event-Level Dyadic Analysis

Abstract

A large number of partnered individuals regularly use or are in a relationship with someone who uses pornography. However, knowledge concerning the association between pornography use and partnered sexual health-sexual satisfaction, distress, and function-is fragmentary. The current study used an event-level dyadic design to examine the associations between pornography use and sexual satisfaction, distress, and function on days when partnered sexual activity occurred. A convenience sample of 217 couples (Mage = 30.2; SD = 8.3; 72 same-sex couples) completed a short survey on days of sexual activity with their partner, over a 35-day period. Self-report measures included questions about today's pornography use and masturbation as well as sexual satisfaction, distress, and function. Using pornography on days of partnered sexual activity was reported by half of the couples. An individual's solitary pornography use on days of partnered sexual activity was related to their partner's higher sexual distress and, for women's use only, to their own higher quality of lubrication, compared to sex days without solitary pornography use. There was no evidence of an association between pornography use on sex days, whether alone or with the partner, and all other aspects of sexual health including sexual satisfaction. Our findings capture the complexity of the associations between pornography and sexual health. Men and women's pornography use may create idealized fantasies around appearance and performance, which may lead the partner to feel distressed about their sex life.Women's pornography use might facilitate their sexual responsiveness during partnered sexual activity.

Pornography Use and Holistic Sexual Functioning: a Systematic Review of Recent Research

“…Similarly, women seem less likely to report problematic pornography use and more likely to report higher sexual satisfaction associated with their pornography use than men [33]. Additional findings showed that, in heterosexual relationships, the female partner's use of pornography was associated with higher sexual desire [38,39] greater sexual satisfaction [30,40], and more frequent engagement in sexual encounters with their partner [29,30]. In addition, for both men and women, some studies have found that watching pornography with a partner was associated with higher sexual satisfaction [28,33].…”

“…Relationship dynamics may also play an important role in describing the interaction between pornography use and sexual satisfaction. In a sample of same and mixed-sex couples, solitary use of pornography on days of sexual intimacy with their partner was associated with higher sexual distress for their partner [30]. Among heterosexual relationships, pornography use by the male partner was related to lower sexual desire and sexual satisfaction for the female partner [38,39].…”

“…For example, one study found that engagement in isolated online sexual activities (including masturbation to pornography) was associated with better sexual functioning [27]. In addition, partnered pornography use was associated with higher sexual arousal for monogamous couples [28] and for women [29,30]. Regarding women specifically, pornography use was also associated with enhanced sexual arousal during solo masturbation [24], while other studies noted that pornography use had no effect on women's sexual functioning at all [31].…”

Sex on the Screen: A Content Analysis of Free Internet Pornography Depicting Mixed-Sex Threesomes from 2012–2020

“…Five videos were randomly selected from each website in 2012, 2015, and 2020. To select the videos, researchers went to the genre marked on the home page of the website "threesome" or "group sex" and used a random number generator (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20) to select which video to view. The videos on the "threesome" or "group sex" pages on each website allowed researchers to randomly select videos from the post popular videos under the given category.…”

“…Because of the widespread consumption of internet pornography, studies assessing its effects have become fairly commonplace [ 1 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Increased viewing of internet pornography has been linked to different behaviors and attitudes, such as increased risky sexual behaviors (e.g., engaging in sexual intercourse without a condom) [ 1 ], less progressive gender-related attitudes [ 9 ], and potential distress in relationships [ 12 ]. Interestingly, some recent research has determined that viewing pornography can also have positive effects on individuals and romantic couples (e.g., increased sexual exploration, increased understanding of sexual identity) [ 11 , 13 ].…”