Effects of Pornography Use and Demographic Parameters on Sexual Response during Masturbation and Partnered Sex in Women.

Sean M. McNabney,Krisztina Hevesi,David L. Rowland

doi:10.3390/ijerph17093130

Abstract

The effect of pornography on sexual response is understudied, particularly among women. A multinational, community-based sample of 2433 women at least 18 years of age completed a 42-item, opt-in questionnaire collecting information on demographic and sexual history characteristics, use of pornography during masturbation, frequency of pornography use, and sexual response parameters. Pornography use and average frequency were compared across demographic variables. We also examined how pornography frequency predicted differences in self-reported arousal difficulty; orgasmic difficulty, latency, and pleasure; and the percent of sexual activities ending in orgasm during both masturbation and partnered sex. On average, women using pornography were younger, and reported more interest in sex. Pornography frequency differed significantly by menopausal status, sexual orientation, anxiety/depression status, number of sexual partners, and origin of data collection. During masturbation, more frequent pornography use predicted lower arousal difficulty and orgasmic difficulty, greater pleasure, and a higher percentage of masturbatory events leading to orgasm. Frequency of pornography use predicted only lower arousal difficulty and longer orgasmic latencies during partnered sex, having no effect on the other outcome variables. Pornography use frequency did not predict overall relationship satisfaction or sexual relationship satisfaction. Overall, more frequent pornography use was generally associated with more favorable sexual response outcomes during masturbation, while not affecting most partnered sex parameters. Several demographic and relationship covariates appear to more consistently and strongly predict orgasmic problems during partnered sexual activity than pornography use.

Highlights

With the advent of, and increasing access to, the internet and other private media forms such as DVD, traditional barriers to sexually explicit materials such as public stigma and societal restriction have weakened considerably, and the viewing of pornography has become commonplace [1,2]
Because our study focused on the relationship of pornography use in two major domains, orgasmic response and relationship satisfaction, we review these two outcomes in greater detail
We broadly addressed the issue of the relationship between pornography use and sexual response

Summary

Introduction

Increasing access to, the internet and other private media forms such as DVD, traditional barriers to sexually explicit materials such as public stigma and societal restriction have weakened considerably, and the viewing of pornography has become commonplace [1,2]. In a comprehensive analysis of General Social Survey (GSS) data from 18,225 women in the United States, Wright and colleagues [3] observed that pornography use has remained largely consistent among. Other sources of sexually explicit media have been evaluated in recent years. Cross-cultural analysis of web traffic on PornHub (https://www.pornhub.com) has indicated that women users comprised about 29% of visitors to the site in the United States and Canada during 2018, with this percentage having increased in recent years [4]. Public Health 2020, 17, 3130; doi:10.3390/ijerph17093130 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

Results

Discussion

Conclusion