Is Watching Porn Healthy? Facts to Help You Make an Informed Choice

Is watching porn healthy? We'll let you decide for yourself, but here are some facts worth knowing that can help you make an informed choice. According to some, it can be. Many people claim that it’s a positive and natural expression of sexuality, it can be a sexually empowering experience, and even helps consumers foster healthy attitudes and perceptions around sex. Porn is often suggested as a relationship builder with your partner, too, a tool to keep a couple’s sex life fresh and fun, and an overall normal and healthy expression for your physical and mental state.

Mental Health and Porn Consumption

Let’s talk about the health of the individual consumer. As humans, we are biologically wired for connection and real-life connections with real people. Research has indicated that having a frequent, isolating porn habit can increase a consumer’s vulnerability to mental health issues like depression and anxiety. Watching porn doesn’t contribute to closeness in relationships, sometimes fueling shame-based thoughts and beliefs, ultimately sometimes driving a wedge between the consumer and their other relationships, even their relationship with themself.

In all honesty, anytime anyone spends a lot of time with the usual pornography consumption cycle, it can often turn into a depressing, demeaning, self-loathing, and lonely kind of experience. Studies have found that when people engage in an ongoing pattern of “self-concealment,” which is doing things they’re not proud of and keeping it a secret, it makes them more vulnerable to physiological issues. It’s hard to say what exactly comes first, the porn problem or the depression itself, but in this particular scenario, they feed off of each other.

The Impact on Relational Health

What about relational health? The truth is, in healthy relationships, reputable research in general shows you can’t have it both ways. Studies show consumers can’t always have the instant gratification of countless virtual sex partners and a satisfying long-term committed relationship. The preponderance of evidence from a dozen or more in-depth, longer-term studies consistently show porn consumption lowering relationship satisfaction, emotional closeness, and sexual satisfaction.

Key Research Findings

  • Two highly respected pornography researchers from the University of Alabama, Jennings Bryant and Dolf Zillmann, concluded that consuming pornography can make an individual less satisfied with their partner’s physical appearance, sexual performance, sexual curiosity, and affection.
  • A 2012 study by Amanda Maddox and her team concluded that individuals who never viewed sexually-explicit material reported higher relationship quality (on every measure) compared with those who viewed the same explicit material.

Educational Resources: Learning What Porn Didn't Teach You

Porn is a filmed performance. Everyone is positioned so all is on display, so sexual acts often look different than they do in real life. Most of the time, porn doesn't show the intimacy, variety, and awkwardness that real sex has. If you're an adult and feel like your bedroom knowledge is lacking, there are resources tailor-made for you.

Available Educational Platforms:

  • Eduporn by Afterglow: For people who want to watch porn and learn practical tips on exploring sex. Cost: $9.99/month.
  • Beducated: Like a Coursera for sex; there's a wide range of modules that dive deep into topics and emotional wellbeing. Cost: $29.99/month.
  • Climax: A video-based platform that breaks down vulva pleasure techniques based on scientific research. Cost: $56/month.
  • OMGYES: For people who want a scientific approach to learning about pleasuring vulvas. Cost: from $49.

Whether you know someone that’s struggling, or you yourself are personally fighting for freedom, we encourage you to confide in someone you feel safe with to break the cycle of loneliness, isolation, and shame.