If you’re like most guys, you probably haven’t given your porn habits much thought. You just open the incognito window, rub one out, and then return to business as usual.
But you might want to – a new study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine has discovered that there are three distinct types of porn viewers: compulsive, recreational, and distressed.
Researchers from Université Laval in Quebec quizzed 830 study participants about their tendencies to avoid sex, their porn viewing habits, sexual dysfunction and their overall sexual satisfaction. More importantly, they wanted to find out how the participants tried to access porn, how they felt after watching it and how often they used it.
75 per cent of the respondents fell into the “recreational” category, which averaged 24 minutes of porn-watching each week and low scores to all the porn-use questions.
12.7 per cent fell into the “highly distressed non-compulsive” group, most of whom experienced emotional distress after viewing porn. This group watched for an average 17 minutes per week.
The third group, which totalled to 11.8 per cent of participants, fell into the “compulsive” category, averaging a whopping 110 minutes of porn each week, while reporting high levels of compulsivity but moderate levels of distress.
Researchers were able to conclude from this study that for most people porn probably isn’t too big a problem, and it’s not going to cause any issues with their overall wellbeing. Unless you fall into the “compulsive” category and experience high levels of distress, you don’t have anything to worry about.
