A study has found that watching greater amounts of pornography is linked to worse erectile dysfunction and greater dissatisfaction with 'normal' sex. The research was presented at the European Association of Urology virtual Congress.
Researchers from Belgium, Denmark and the UK established an online questionnaire (www.malesexualhealth.be). A total of 3267 men replied to the 118 questions about masturbation, frequency of porn watching and sexual activity with partners. The questionnaire concentrated on men who had had sex within the previous four weeks and incorporated questions from standard erectile function and sexual health surveys.
38.1 per cent were aged between 16 and 25 years, 29 per cent were between 26 and 35 years, 22.5 per cent were between 36 and 45 years and 10.4 per cent were above 45 years of age; 28.5 per cent were single, 5.7 per cent were in a new relationship (<6 months), 35.4 per cent were in longstanding relationships (>6 months), 29.2 per cent were engaged or married and 1.3 per cent were divorced or widowed.
Frequency of porn watching was on average 70 minutes per week with a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 1575 (standard deviation, 119) minutes. Over 2 per cent watched more than 7 hours per week.
A porn watching session lasted on average below five minutes in 7.5 per cent of participants, five to 10 minutes in 28.0 per cent, 10-15 minutes in 27.7 per cent, between 15 and 30 minutes in 22.8 per cent, 30 minutes to one hour in almost 10.7 per cent and more than an hour in 3.1 per cent.
Assumptions for a linear trend line were confirmed. A clear negative trendline was observed showing lower International Index of Erectile Function and Male Sexual Health Questionnaire scores with more porn watching.
