Statistically, you've taken a peek at some online hotties doing their thing in free porn videos at some point in your life. Is this really a problem?
Pornography often gets a pretty heated rap. Whether it's porn positive proponents, shouting from the rooftops about how woke it is to be cool with mainstream porn, or antagonistic naysayers that are convinced that just one viewing will put you out of favor with Jesus- people seem to have some pretty extreme views about porn. PornDoe, an online hub for videos, suggests that their users are almost as varied as their content. Adding to a growing body of evidence suggesting that perusing through the catacombs of free porn videos online is a much more casual occurrence than either polarized purview would like you to think.
It turns out, a lot of people watch porn. Men, women, straight, gay, non-binary, trans. People watch porn and all different types of porn. You'd think that, with all of these dedicated viewers, and all of the instant availability to skin flicks if porn caused problems we'd be smack in the middle of a society teeming with sexual deviants and people who struggle to get it on without plugging in. Which just isn't the case. So it begs the question- does the litany of free porn online actually cause problems in people's everyday lives?
What Porn Gets Right
There are actually a lot of really great things that porn can offer. You don't need to be a fetishist, misogynist, or complete freak to engage with pornography. You aren't weird because you like it, and frankly- if it's not causing you problems, then it's not a problem.
Porn can actually serve to improve relationships and sexual health. Here are just a few of the awesome attributes of healthy porn enjoyment.
Masturbation
Masturbation is healthy. It's completely normal, and despite what you may have heard- it definitely won't make you go blind any time soon. Scientists and sexual health professionals actually suggest that regular masturbation could prove to have huge benefits. From maintaining muscle tone to being more readily able to catch certain types of cancers at early stages. Exploring your body and your desire is an important part of sexual health. Let's face it- porn and masturbation go together better than peanut butter and jelly- so don't feel bad for rubbing one out to some fun fantasy now and again.
Sex-Positivity
Pornography has long been a proponent of sex-positivity, bringing discussions regarding sexuality and sexual behavior front and center, removing several taboos. Porn that is specifically made to be sex-positive can even further bolster more genuine conversation, specifically regarding content, legislation, and sex work. While being sex-positive doesn't necessarily mean you need to watch online porn, it can help open up intimate discussions and internal dialogues about how you feel about sex in general.
Enhancing Curiosity
Pornography offers a unique and spectacularly low key way to interact with alternative sexualities and sexual communities, without having to engage in the acts personally. Porn can work as your very own little preview into a world you may find yourself curious about exploring. It means you could reasonably learn about what BDSM really is (as opposed to what 50 Shades of Housewife Misrepresentation wanted us to believe it is), without having to furnish your own dungeon. Porn can also help people ease into their own specific style of sexual comfort, as well as put them in contact with helpful communities and tribes of similarly minded individuals.
Relationship Satisfaction
A study published in the Journal of Sex Research found that pro-porn women were actually found to have higher levels of relationship satisfaction. The study also says that men who have anxious attachment interdependence benefited from higher porn use. Reporting higher levels of relationship satisfaction for them. Pornography can also allow couples to indulge in fantasies without crossing predetermined boundaries regarding agreed upon monogamy.
What Porn Could Be Screwing Up
Pornography use, even if it's healthy, can cause some issues in certain relationships. If one partner is pro-porn use, while the other is staunchly against it- you can see where frictions would arise. Particularly if the user feels the need to employ deception or lie about their usage to their partner. These types of dynamics can understandably be a massive breach of trust within a relationship. But, having open and earnest conversations about the feelings toward pornography is an easy way to work through them.
So there is such a thing as "Porn induced erectile dysfunction", but research attributes this problem to males only, and of the literature that does exist, it seems to be an incredibly rare, and poorly researched occurrence. Furthermore, it's difficult to point to porn and say that your new-found ED is due to there just being too many amazing pornographic videos available. As porn has also been championed as a way to address erectile dysfunction.
Porn use can indeed cause some pretty dramatic emotional and cognitive distress for those that feel shame or discomfort about their penchant for it. This can stem from a person using pornography, even when it falls in stark contrast to religious beliefs or cultural ethos. Creating a rift between their desires and their moral responsibility. But again, while it's easy to point to pornography as the catch-all problem in these situations, it's unlikely that it is the sole culprit of discomfort.
