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Women whose partners regularly watch porn are more likely to develop an eating disorder. That’s the outcome of a study by Ohio State University.
Eating Disorder
The risk factors that may contribute to an eating disorder are complex. Genetic factors, certain brain chemistry, and external pressure from (perceived) expectations of the world and people around someone are taken into account.
Low self-esteem and perfectionism are considered leading risk factors for an eating disorder, but external factors could be the proverbial drop in the bucket in certain cases.
Pornography as a Cause of Eating Disorders
According to researchers at Ohio State University, a male partner in general can be such an external factor. Not enough research has been conducted on his role. But specifically, men who regularly watch porn could also be a potential risk factor. In those cases, women may feel more pressure to lose weight and have a slim body. That was at least the theory of the researchers.
They point to previous research on the positive and negative aspects of watching porn. ‘Overconsumption’ is seen as addiction. However, at the same time, it could also be an outlet. For couples who watch together, it could also be a ‘bonding experience.’
One of the risks associated with porn is portraying an idealized and unrealistic image of sex and people.
How Much Porn Does Your Partner Watch?
The researchers asked over 400 women (average age 34) to fill out a questionnaire.
They didn’t directly ask if there was an eating disorder. Psychologists concluded whether this was the case based on more subtle questions about eating behavior.
The porn-watching behavior of the male partner was directly queried. This turned out to have a much greater influence than that of friends and family. Men who watched more than 8 hours of porn per week led to a higher risk of an eating disorder in the female partner.
Watching Together, Comparing Together
Naturally, I had several questions about the context when I read the title of the study.
- Does the girlfriend/wife watch too?
- Does it matter what kind of porn the man or couple watches?
In other words: Is knowing that your boyfriend or husband watches porn enough to make you feel insecure, or does it matter specifically what he watches?
For example, the researchers point out that when men and women watch together, women may compare themselves to the actresses on the screen. This could bring up deep-seated insecurity, especially if it is believed that the man is making the same comparison.
Oddly, however, the questionnaires did not distinguish between men who watch porn alone and couples who watch together. Honestly, I don’t understand that. After all, women can feel insecure purely because their partner watches porn. “Doesn’t he have enough with me?”
“Watching Porn Means Wanting Thin”
In my opinion, the study loses a lot of its value by not making that distinction. The researchers and possibly the participating women make quite a few assumptions, in my opinion:
Even if a woman didn’t personally value being thin, her male partner’s pornography habit and his desire for her to be thin seemed to play a role in her eating disorder.
Tracy Tylka, Ohio State University
Are they now automatically linking watching porn to a male preference for thin women, or is this a separately established characteristic in the questionnaire? After all, no one asked the man if he thinks his partner should be slimmer. This seems to be an assumption based on watching porn. But even if the man actually watches porn with slim actresses, this still doesn’t say anything about his (opinion of his) partner.
I may step on many toes now, but in my opinion, this is a common mistake made by women. As evidence, I cite every season of
Temptation Island. How often do you hear a female partner say the following about one of the temptresses: “She looks nothing like me, so he can never find her interesting.” I always wonder if that’s stupidity or misplaced vanity.
After all, men know that this is a very strange thought. What a man thinks of a strange woman usually has nothing to do with his partner’s appearance. Absolutely nothing! And in those cases where this does play a role, the opposite usually applies: He finds her interesting precisely because she doesn’t look like you!
That doesn’t mean he wants you to look like her. If you enjoy a meal out once, it doesn’t mean you want to have filet mignon at home every day.
Don’t Blame it on the Porn
There are men who consciously play on their partner’s insecurities. A very nasty way to make a woman feel insecure in order to gain a sense of power in the relationship. Men who literally say that their wife is too fat, for example, and I don’t mean out of concern for her health.
As far as I’m concerned, you can really drag those kinds of men through the mud. But to now blame the porn lover as the biggest external factor in a female partner’s eating disorder, that’s going a bit too far for me. Especially if I have to base that on Ohio State’s research. I’m not saying there is no connection. But if there is such a connection, it seems to be mainly due to women’s faulty assumptions. “He watches porn, so he likes thin,” “He compares me to porn actresses.”
It’s certainly an interesting connection to investigate further. First of all, make a clear distinction between couples who watch together and couples where the man watches alone. Then, among the couples who watch together, make a distinction based on the average figure of the actresses and how that relates to the figure of the female partner. After all, I don’t think anyone assumes that a slim woman develops anorexia when her man has a fetish for porn actresses weighing 150+ kilos.
And why wasn’t there asked about the ‘porn-watching behavior’ of the woman herself, what kind of actresses appear in that porn, and what that does to their self-esteem?
References
- Tylka TL, Calogero RM. Perceptions of male partner pressure to be thin and pornography use: Associations with eating disorder symptomatology in a community sample of adult women. Int J Eat Disord. 2019;52:189–194. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22991
