VANCOUVER, B.C. — A new study published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy suggests that honesty regarding porn consumption and mutual use are predictors of increased relationship satisfaction in heterosexual couples.
The team of Canadian researchers, led by Kevin Alderson and Marley Resch, recruited 340 female participants aged 18-41 from a university in western Canada, who were in committed relationships with men who admitted to using porn.
The women completed various questionnaires online to assess their personal porn use, "distress level" with respect to porn, whether or not the women perceived that their partners were honest about pornography use and overall relationship satisfaction.
Findings revealed that women who perceived that their partners were honest about their porn use reported higher levels of relationship satisfaction and lower levers of distress, Scientific American reported.
Mutual use of porn was linked to lower levels of distress, but had no significant impact on relationship satisfaction.
"Being honest about pornography use with a partner indicates that the person is comfortable with their own sexuality and the things that sexually titillate, stimulate, arouse and turn-on their excitation,” Dr. Fran Walfish, psychotherapist and author, told MedicalDaily regarding the study.
She commented further, “When both partners are equally open sexually and emotionally pornography can be an exciting, wonderful foreplay. Often, watching can stimulate ideas, themes and scenarios that can illicit spontaneity and adventure for the couple."
