There Are Three Types Of People Who Watch Porn, And Only One Of Them Is Actually Healthy

A lot of people think watching porn is a bad habit. Then again, the motivation to watch it is a completely natural phenomenon. Even India, against all societal odds, has quite a few women watching porn. The thing is, like any good thing, too much may not be so great.

According to a study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, there are three variations of the voyeuristic habit, and only one of those is the healthy kind.

The study interviewed 830 participants, with singles mixed in among people in relationships, questioning them about their porn-viewing habits. 

The researchers quizzed 830 participants, who were mixed in terms of relationship status, on their porn viewing habits. Specifically, how often they watched actors do the nasty, whether their need to watch disrupted their daily life, and whether they felt any strong emotions after, like shame. Participants were also asked about their sexual satisfaction and their tendency to avoid actual sex with regards to their porn habits.

It’s important to consider in the following findings however, that 70 percent of the sample group were were women, 80 percent were heterosexual, and the average age of participants was 25. Based on what the researchers found, they divided porn watchers into three major groups.

This type of porn viewer is the only one deemed healthy by the study. They’re sexually satisfied, have a low sexual compulsivity (meaning they’re not overly obsessed with sexual fantasies), and low sexual avoidance (they don’t feel anxious or distressed when faced with the idea of having sex with a real person).

About 75.5 percent of the study’s participants fell in this group, with the researchers saying they’re typically single women or people in relationships. This kind of porn consumer watches about 24 minutes of porn a week.

Watching about 110 minutes of porn a week, this kind of person spends the most time of three groups self servicing, and is more likely to watch it alone. The researchers pegged this group to have a larger proportion of men, higher emotional distress related to their porn watching, making more effort to access porn, and facing the most compulsive need to watch .

Distressed non-compulsive viewers 

The researchers also believe one group exists that use porn to self-medicate or feel better about themselves. This accounted for about 12.7 percent of the sample size, with lower sexual satisfaction, higher sexual compulsivity, and higher sexual avoidance.

People in this group spend an average of about only 17 minutes a week watching porn, which led researchers to assume that a feeling of guilt or shame afterwards is not related to how often a person watches porn. Instead, members of this group are sort of using it as a last resort for their compulsive sexual needs, though unable to engage in most real sexual activity.