New Delhi: Research has shown that pornography can have a negative impact on your personal life as well as relationships. Those who are addicted to porn also experience less happiness and are more susceptible to mental health issues like depression and anxiety. However, a new study suggests that women whose male partners watch porn frequently are at a greater risk of developing eating disorders, which can affect every organ system in the body.
The study done by the researchers from Ohio State University found strong links between women whose romantic partners watch porn and feelings of guilt about eating, preoccupation with body fat, binging or purging. The research also revealed that women felt more pressure to have a thin body and lose weight when the men in their lives were regular consumers of porn.
“The relationship between partner pornography use and disordered eating was stronger for this group of women than for college women we have previously studied,” said co-author Tracy Tylka, Professor at The Ohio State University. “That could be because these women have had more relationship experiences, and these experiences have shaped their relationships with food and their perceptions of their bodies,” Tylka added.
For ‘the first of its kind’ study, published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, the researchers examined 409 women who are in relationships with men. The participants were asked to answer a questionnaire that enabled the research team to identify symptoms of eating disorders.
The researchers, who analysed the relationships between those responses, found that there was a clear association between eating disorder symptoms and porn usage. The results showed that women whose partners watched as much as eight hours of pornography were at much greater risk.
The study also suggests that women whose partners watch porn frequently may feel more pressured to aspire to have that unrealistic body types often seen in porn, making them to compare their own bodies to those featured.
“In many categories of eating disorder symptoms, perceived pressure from a romantic partner to be thin appeared to be more detrimental than pressure from friends or family, or even the media,” Tylka said.
Tylka, however, added that further study is required in the area of partner influences on disordered eating among older women.