Porn is Healthy

Is watching porn healthy?

According to some, it can be. Many people claim that it’s a positive and natural expression of sexuality, it can be a sexually empowering experience, and even helps consumers foster healthy attitudes and perceptions around sex. These claims are often accompanied by comments that if someone isn’t into watching porn, there might be something wrong with them, like having repressed sexuality or a closed mind.

Porn is often suggested as a relationship builder with your partner, too, a tool to keep a couple’s sex life fresh and fun, and an overall normal and healthy expression for your physical and mental state.

But no matter how appealing all of that sounds, is this all backed up by what research from respected institutions says?

We’re not only talking about those claims that porn can become addictive, though porn following the addiction model is backed up by neurological studies, too. We’re talking, addiction potential aside, about porn in general—can it be healthy? Would you be smart to watch it, even from time to time?

We’ll let you decide for yourself, but here are some facts worth knowing that can help you make an informed choice.

Mental health and porn consumption
Let’s talk about the health of the individual consumer.

Approximately 1 in 5 people experience mental illness in a given year, and it’s becoming more common as the signs are more widely recognized and talked about.

But what do mental health and watching porn have to do with each other?

As humans, we are biologically wired for connection and real-life connections with real people. Watching porn doesn’t contribute to closeness in relationships, sometimes fueling shame-based thoughts and beliefs, ultimately sometimes driving a wedge between the consumer and their other relationships, even their relationship with themself. Social isolation starts small, but it’s possible that it can lead to and fuel existing depression.

Related: Is There Such A Thing As A Healthy Amount of Porn?

In other words, research has indicated that having a frequent, isolating porn habit can increase a consumer’s vulnerability to mental health issues like depression and anxiety.

In all honesty, anytime anyone spends a lot of time with the usual pornography consumption cycle, it can often turn into a depressing, demeaning, self-loathing, and lonely kind of experience. Not only for the person watching porn, but it even affects the relationships and the ones you care about.

Studies have found that when people engage in an ongoing pattern of “self-concealment,” which is doing things they’re not proud of and keeping it a secret, it makes them more vulnerable to physiological issues.

Could it be true that porn triggers depression or is it the other way around? What we do know is this, the more people feel bad about themselves, the more they seek comfort wherever they can get it. And if they’re already caught up with a secret porn habit, it’s likely they will turn to more porn.

It’s hard to say what exactly comes first, the porn problem or the depression itself, but in this particular scenario, they feed off of each other.

Whether you know someone that’s struggling, or you yourself are personally fighting for freedom, we encourage you to confide in someone you feel safe with to break the cycle of loneliness, isolation, and shame.