The debate about whether the consumption of porn videos is harmful for couples has been going on for several decades. A discussion in which scientific arguments are sometimes mixed with prejudice and morality and in which there are opinions to support all kinds of positions. As mental health professionals, we must be consistent with the evidence from studies.
Various studies agree that this type of porn videos can be added to the elements that stimulate and enrich a couple’s relationship when both agree to enjoy it. They tend to have more satisfying sexual relationships, due to the level of honesty and communication. In other words, when it comes to controlled or even shared use as a couple, we find several positive effects such as greater sexual communication between the couple, greater erotic variants, as it helps to expand the sexual repertoire of both, helps to break the monotony and awaken the imagination, enhances sexual desire and increases intimacy. These couples understand that it is a different stimulus that can even increase the desire to be with the couple, and it is experienced as an opportunity to learn and share a pleasant experience together.
However, it has also been noted that porn videos could lead to unrealistic expectations of sexual performance in men and women. Well, watching free porn movies makes it easier to compare your own body and/or that of your partner with those that appear in the images, as well as your own performance or performance in the sexual encounter with that of the actors. All this ends up producing frustration and insecurity in the individual and/or as a couple, by not achieving what is expected, which can lead to fear of failure and performance pressure that, ultimately, would translate into difficulty actual sexual performance. Being able to develop sexual dysfunctions such as erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation and anorgasmia, among others.
In other more extreme cases, the continued and excessive abuse or consumption of free porn videos can lead to an addiction to porn, as we saw in a previous post. The addict to porn experiences a loss of interest or sexual desire towards their partner, since the reaction to habitual sexual stimuli is reduced, as they increasingly need to view this type of material. This also implies great difficulty in imagining and fantasizing. All this can lead to erection problems or difficulties reaching orgasm, among others, as well as a decrease in sexual activity with the partner, which can lead to great discomfort.
Frequently, the partners of those addicted to porn videos feel betrayed, rejected, displaced and show a loss of self-esteem, generating insecurity regarding their attractiveness and their ability to sexually satisfy their partner when compared to porn actors. They may even consider acts of virtual sex as adultery. All this, together with the lack of commitment and intimacy in the relationship, creates a feeling of contempt for the couple that could even lead to divorce or separation.
In cases like this, it is important to understand that these difficulties are part of the disorder, issues that do not necessarily have to do with a lack of love and/or attraction to their partners.
On the other hand, it is necessary to emphasize that porn in itself is not the problem, but the use made of this type of stimulus, the function it has, the place it occupies in the individual’s sexual life and the way in which determines their beliefs about sex.
In general, these porn movies are made by and for men. They reduce women as an object of pleasure, as well as sexual function to genitality, thus contributing to the creation and perpetuation of stereotypes of patterns of power and violence around sexual function. This could be combated if we had quality and accessible sex education in society, but if this is not the case, xxx porn becomes the main sexual educational tool for a high percentage of people of all ages, which ends up transforming the sexual experience based on a fiction and dictating the way in which sexual relations should be maintained.
Today we can find quality free porn sites in which sex is treated in a more natural and realistic way that seeks to free itself from old stereotypes, so that couples can identify more with this type of cinema, promoting a more positive attitude.
Porn videos such as these can be part of the therapeutic strategies used to enrich the sexual life of a couple. Its use in therapy is characterized by promoting the normalization of sexuality, fostering a positive attitude, supporting learning through the observation of sexual behaviors, stimulating sexual desire and arousal, and promoting erotic fantasies.
