What would happen if we stopped using porn
for a short period of time (say, three weeks)?
Instead we had to find other forms
of erotic masturbatory material
Giving up Web
Porn [For a While]
I decided to find out. As part of an informal “no porn” experiment, I reached out to five men of various backgrounds ages 22 to 67, both married and single, all of whom currently used Internet porn as a self-pleasuring tool, and all of whom felt their usage posed no problem to themselves or their intimate relationships.
As the three-week experiment unfolded, the feedback from the group of guys was intriguing:
All the men ended up pleasuring themselves less than they would have normally had they had access to Internet porn. While they still had the same urges to self-pleasure, most simply decided it was not worth the effort – and that freed up their time.
Said Greg, a single guy in his early 20s who works from home as a freelance Web developer,“ I ended up getting a lot more work done.”
And when they did make time to self-pleasure, four of the five men also had much more difficulty, er, “getting started.”
“I would see something sexy, and get turned on, and my first instinct was to flip open my laptop and let my fingers do the walking. Business as usual,” lamented Chris, who is married and in his late 40s. “But without Internet porn, I just couldn’t get it going, and more than once I gave up.”
Kenneth, who is single and in his mid-30s said, “I actually went out and bought a copy of Penthouse, but I was really self-conscious.
The whole experience left me feeling dirtier than actually just going to a porn site. Plus, there wasn’t nearly as much variety. I missed the browsing.”
Fred, a married man in his 30s, was forced to improvise. “I needed to watch something – you know, moving images – but I don’t own a DVD player anymore.
“I ended up reading one of my wife’s romance novels instead, and you know what? It was pretty hot! Now we’re reading them together, and I really like this whole erotica genre.”
In general, when the guys found new ways to self-pleasure, they also discovered something new about themselves. Fred discovered that he had indeed been becoming something of a “porn-potato”.
David, a man in his late 20s who is on the verge of moving in with his girlfriend, really enjoyed his strolls down Erotic Memory Lane.
“It had been a while since I thought about my sexual past: ex-girlfriends, hookups, etc. I used this experiment to start at the beginning and work my way up to the present.
“I remembered that I have some really hot nuggets buried in my past, and I also found myself thinking a lot about my current girlfriend and what a great sex life we have together.”
In fact, without easy access to Internet porn and the steady stream of anonymous porn stars, most of the men turned to their own erotic histories and specific sexy memories for stimulation.
Nick, who is married in his 30s with two kids, reported that he became more focused on trying to have sex with his wife, which led to some tension, and, happily, some resolution.
“We had some fights, and I definitely got grouchy, but once I removed the porn I became much more engaged with my wife. I realized we were getting sexually complacent and that porn was like a valve.
“Once I didn’t have the valve to let off some sexual steam, I became much more focused on the bigger situation of our sex life.”
At the end of the experiment, though, all of the guys returned to the Internet. “It’s just easier with Internet porn,” Greg confessed.
“I love sex with my wife,” Chris said, “but when I’m going solo I want the variety.