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Home • Wellness

Vitamin G: The Effects Porn Has On Our Sexual Health

Do you need porn to be a pro at sex, or can it serve as a guide to sexual healing?
Vitamin G: The Effects Porn Has On Our Sexual Health
Young African man looking stressed out while lying awake next to his sleeping wife in their bed in the morning
By Amber Little · Updated June 20, 2024

Welcome back to Vitamin G, where we aim to tackle those intimate issues that may be considered taboo. Porn can be used to create a new level of intimacy between you and your sexual partner or by yourself. However, is it possible that porn could also be a hindrance to your sexual exploration? Porn is nothing to be ashamed of, and sex is a form of self-expression. 

While you may presume that this article solely focuses on the negative impacts of porn, there are many ways that porn can serve as a guide for your partner to learn ways to please you. Here are some ways that porn can affect our sexual appetite.

Porn Can Be Linked To Depression

Due to the association that porn may have with guilt and shame, many people view porn in isolation. GU spoke with a former PornHub and OnlyFans content creator Muhammad A. Sanders where he spoke on how creating content for these porn sites for two and a half years impacted his relationship. “My relationship of five years was impacted, and we were serious to the point where we got engaged, which affected it towards the end. I was doing solo content, and she found out, which strained our relationship. She told me to delete everything, and I did,” he tells GU.

When porn is used improperly, it can disconnect people from genuine relationships. GU spoke with Mental Health Therapist Lamarr Lewis to explore the impacts that porn causes and how to utilize these outlets efficiently. Lewis told GU that “there is a lack of good sexual education, and it is important to find balance because porn can be educational through visual images. The issue comes from the secrecy of the porn within the relationship and that it becomes an unhealthy relationship associated with porn.” This level of isolation can create damaging impacts on one’s mental health and our ability to connect with others on a transparent level without fear of being judged.

Sex Becomes Self-Serving

According to a widely referenced study conducted by Dr. Dolf Zillman and Dr. Jennings Bryant in 1988, porn can switch the focus of our association with sex and create some self-serving tendencies as you start to become more focused on receiving pleasure than being in tune with your partner.

GU spoke with Melanie Truitt as she expressed a previous encounter that she experienced with a lover from years ago that overindulged in porn and masturbation. Truitt explains, “It felt like I was in a movie scene or something and not a good one. It felt like I just knew I would have a bad time.”

Intimacy

Moreover, a study was conducted in 2021, which showed that 1 in 4 adults believe that porn is the most helpful source for learning how to have sex. Lewis also stated that there is an importance in learning our association with porn whether it’s for performance enhancement, partner guide, or anxiety. Porn can be used to create visual guide points to discover new ways to please your partner or create an erotic atmosphere to further embrace your desires.

When asked if porn can be a form of creating intimacy between you and your partner, Kori Crutcher told GU, “Yes, my partner and I are finding ways to make porn sexy for us because it’s our fantasy world,” Crutcher continues her sentiments as she states, “Girls can be just as horny as boys. Porn helps me keep a clearer head before I start my day.”

If you feel the need to gain more intimacy with your partner through pornographic films, Lewis reviewed how some of his clients indulge in creating their sex tapes and use them to please their sexual impulses. This is a perfect way to keep things steamy for you.

The Association With Sexual Health

Porn addiction can lead to long-term effects on your libido, which may affect your ejaculation frequency. Lewis further expounds on the issue of performance anxiety with men by stating that “due to enlarged penises that are displayed in pornography, some partners are not taking into account the film cut scenes, angle placement, and drug enhancements that some of these paid actors use to create longer films,” he says.

“Performance anxiety affects men also by challenging a man’s ability to make women squirt as these films display and some people don’t consider the exaggerated measures taken to create these scenes in these films.” Porn can also influence our attitude towards the association with lubrication, semen, genitalia expectation, and performance anxiety.

Body Affirmation

We have to consider the positive effects that porn has on the liberation of gaining confidence in an explicit and sensual atmosphere. Another way to change your association with porn is perhaps to indulge in porn stars that resemble your aesthetic, and it can change the narrative of how you view porn by learning how to please yourself and how you are seen as desirable in these sexual scenes. GU spoke with LGBTQIA+ advocate and ally Makeda Allen as she shed light on how porn can positively affect the LGBTQ community and how it can affect everyone’s self-esteem.

“It is impactful for trans men, women, and nonbinary people to see depictions of themselves in porn scenes where it shows actors that have similar appearances such as surgical scars and other body similarities since the community has been stereotyped as taboo in some narrow-minded environments. I can only imagine the amount of confidence that is instilled in them as they see depictions of themselves being sexually desirable to their partners,” she says.

These same sentiments can be said when considering the level of confidence that anyone can gain when viewing individuals who resemble their same attributes. This can help you become more comfortable with your body and learn how you want to be loved sensually.

About Amber: Amber Little is a writer, fashionista, and digital content creator. She has used her Journalism degree from Georgia State University and is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Interior Design at SCAD to educate others through life and beauty.

TOPICS:  sexual health vitamin g wellness
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