There are three different types of porn consumers, a new study has found.
The good news is the largest group - three-quarters of viewers - watch it recreationally, without adverse effects. They average 24 minutes of porn-watching a week and are largely satisfied with their sex lives.
If you're woman or in a relationship, chances are this is you.
The research, published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, isolated two other types of viewer however.
The 'highly distressed non-compulsive' group makes up 12.7 percent. They don't watch much - about 17 minutes a week on average - but feel guilty about it afterwards, suffering "emotional distress" and feelings of "self-punishment".
The third group - 'compulsive' consumers - was the smallest, at 11.8 percent. They're more likely to seek porn and spend an average 110 minutes a week watching - but afterwards, like the previous group, feel shame and emotional distress afterwards.
And they're predominantly men.
"Compared with women who tend to use pornography with their partner as part of their sexual activities, men are more attracted to a wider range of materials and prefer to use pornography for arousal and masturbation," the study notes.
"These past results could help explain why women tend to use pornography in a more recreational manner, whereas men might be more easily trapped in a compulsive cycle."
Lead researcher Marie-Pier Vaillancourt-Morel of the University of Montreal used a 40-question test to come up with the three categories, participants asked to answer true or false to statements like:
- 'at times, I try to arrange my schedule so that I will be able to be alone in my room to view pornography'
- 'after viewing pornography online, I clear my browser's history'
- 'when I am unable to access pornography online I feel relieved that I did not sin'.
"Pornography use has become a topic of considerable interest which had so far polarised public opinion and provokes bitter debates," Dr Vaillancourt-Morel told psychology news site PsyPost.
"Research on sexual outcomes of pornography use is still in its early stage and we should be cautious before concluding that pornography use is universally harmful or beneficial."
The study questioned 830 people - 71.8 percent of them women, 81.8 percent identifying as straight, 5.8 percent gay and 11.6 percent bisexual.
Bisexual respondents had the highest rate of compulsive porn consumption, with heterosexuals more likely to be recreational.
In January, website Pornhub reported it streamed 4.6 billion hours of videos in 2016 - about five times the man-hours (and women-hours) estimated to have been spent building the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Newshub.
