【Hollywood Archives】

It turns out too much porn can Hollywood Archivesbe a bad thing -- at least if you're a guy. Women can carry on enjoying as much as they like.

New research has found that unlimited access to online porn may be damaging to men’s sex lives. Looking at it too often can lead them to become less interested in their IRL sex lives, which obviously has all kinds of negative consequences for their health and relationships. Meanwhile, women are lucky enough to remain pretty much unharmed by their porn consumption.

This new data is the result of two separated surveys that were led by Dr. Matthew Christman, a urologist at the Naval Medical Center of San Diego. The findings were presented last week at the 112th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association.

The first survey focused on women between 20 and 40 years old, most of whom were married, heterosexual, white, and on active duty in the military. (They were all patients at a military urology clinic.) The results showed that these women weren’t exactly porn-loving machines.

About 40 percent of the survey respondents reported looking at porn on occasion, and one-fourth of them said they did so less than once a week. But regardless of how much they were watching, there were no accompanying ill-effects or sexual dysfunction.

The second survey, however, was a little more alarming. It looked at 312 men in the same age range (and with a similar demographic makeup). Some 20 percent of these guys said they viewed porn three to five times a week. That's not too shocking, but it appears that some of the men took things too far.

For instance, four percent of them said they actually preferred masturbating to porn over having intercourse with their partner. Not great for the health of a relationship, that's for sure. There was also a correlation between the guys who were avid consumers of porn and those who reported experiencing less sexual desire and satisfaction, and also those with erectile dysfunction.

There are some obvious limitations here, since these surveys are only examining a pretty narrow population of people. Still, it's nice to think that women, for once, can enjoy something pleasurable without having to worry about any consequences.

But even for men, there's no need to panic just yet. Taking advantage of the internet's vast store of adult entertainment from time to time will probably not ruin your life.