do you consider yourself to have a healthy relationship to porn?
I listen to the Trixie & Katya podcast for fun, and Katya said recently that she finds porn overstimulating and it harms her sensitivity & ability to enjoy IRL sex, so she's abstaining from it. I realized that sums up how I feel about porn these days.
Long story short: porn was my only lifeline to anything gay when I was a teenager living in a rural place with absolutely no access to out gay people or anything to help me understand my sexuality. But I think I channeled too much desire and fantasy through it over the years and I often had a hard time connecting & enjoying real sex. I also relied on porn a lot when I was in 2 long-term relationships in my 20s and 30s and felt like I didn't have many other outlets for sexual frustration.
Now I'd say my sex life is the best it's ever been, but in order to get that I've had to seriously limit masturbation and pretty much completely step away from porn. It's funny, I went to visit my parents in the middle of nowhere a few months ago, and I got back into the habit of jacking off to porn while I was there. Again, I had trouble having good sex again for my first few weeks back in the real world.
I should clarify that I have NO problem with porn morally or ethically - I love it! I think people demonize it too much and I'm not sure porn "addiction" is a real thing... but I've certainly consumed it compulsively and had a hard time enjoying it in a balanced way. I doubt I can ever have both a fun sex life AND a porn habit at the same time. I'm curious, do you feel the same way?
Posted Apr 28, 2026, 7:08 PM UTC