It Turns Out Watching Porn Could Actually Be Good For Your Sex Life
Despite what many people say, watching porn does not make men any less hungry for actual sex.
That's what a new study conducted by researchers at UCLA and Montreal's Concordia University found after monitoring the sex drive of 280 men, The Telegraph reports.
The team first asked the volunteers, most of whom were white and in their 20s, about how much porn they watched, whether or not they had a regular sexual partner and if they had any difficulties becoming aroused.
Volunteers also reported on their desire to have "solo sex" compared to sex with a partner.
It turns out that the more a volunteer watched porn, the more he wanted to have sex.
Volunteers who didn't watch porn scored a 40 on the researchers' arousal scale compared to a 50 and over from those who did.
The highest sex drives were detected in those who watched at least two hours of porn a week.
The study's authors wrote,
This pattern suggests that those who view more visual sexual stimuli (VSS) are likely to have a higher sexual drive.
Researchers additionally found no link between watching porn and failing to get an erection with a partner.
Author Nicole Prause said,
Many clinicians claim that watching erotica makes men unable to respond sexually to 'normal' sexual situations…That was not the case in our sample.
The last stage of the study tested whether the volunteers could become aroused by sexual situations not as extreme as those featured in porn.
Volunteers were shown films of a man and woman doing nothing but having "consensual vaginal intercourse," according to the Los Angeles Times.
They then revealed how aroused they became while viewing the films, which were between 20 seconds to three minutes long.
Those who watched the most porn were also the most aroused by these fairly conservative clips.
Praus said,
They are responding more strongly to very vanilla erotica than the guys for whom the films are more novel. While this association doesn't establish a cause, it proves viewing erotica at home is not desensitizing and perhaps even sensitized the men to respond more strongly.
An increased amount of porn viewing was therefore found to have no connection to any problems in the bedroom.
It's important to note, though, that no causal relationship was established, so the people with a high sex-drive may already be watching more porn.
This study was originally published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
Citations: Why porn might actually be good for you (The Telegraph), Study finds no link between viewing porn and erectile dysfunction (The Los Angeles Times)
