How much porn a guy watches can totally effect his relationship. But issues with erectile dysfunction (ED) — that is, the inability to hold an erection — beause of porn is not one of them, according to a new study from researchers at UCLA and Concordia University in Montreal.
The study, published in the journal Sexual Medicine, studied 280 straight, mostly white male volunteers in their 20s who watch porn from zero to 25 hours a week, the LA Times reported. (25 hours a week? Don’t these people have jobs?!) The men then self-reported their sexual responsiveness based on a questionnaire called the International Index of Erectile Function. Although spending lots of time watching porn has been linked to depression, this study found that lots of time watching porn had zero link to ED.
READ MORE: More People Are Watching BDSM Porn Thanks to “50 Shades”
In a statement, Concordia neuroscientist and psychologist James Pfaus urged people not to blame ED on porn:
“While many people think easy access to porn leads to problems in the bedroom, our study suggests the opposite. The erectile dysfunction is most likely caused by the same issues that have been known for some time, such as performance anxiety, poor cardiovascular health or side-effects from substance abuse.”
The study also shed light on the widespread cultural belief that watching porn “desensitizes” men to sex. In fact, the researchers discovered that the more porn a man self-reported watching at home, the more aroused he became by watching a “vanilla” sex film inside a lab. To the researchers, this suggested that watching more pornography (and more hardcore pornography, at that) “is not desensitizing and perhaps even sensitized the men to respond more strongly,” the Times quoted UCLA neuroscientist Nicole Prause as saying.
So, ladies, perhaps don’t be too hasty if you catch your boyfriend rubbing one our to Holly Michaels. He probably still strongly desires actual sex with a real, live woman (i.e. you). But whether you consider a man in a relationship watching porn to be cheating, well, that’s another story …
