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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask how you actually vet for men who don’t watch porn?

272 replies

SharpMintBeaker · 01/01/2026 16:32

I’m not here to argue whether porn is okay, I’ve already decided it’s a dealbreaker for me. What I’m trying to figure out is: how do you tell if someone genuinely doesn’t watch it? Men online always say “I don’t watch it anymore” or “only occasionally” but how do you know it’s not just performative?

Has anyone actually dated (or married) a man who’s never been into it? Or gave it up without being guilted into it? If so, how did you know it was real?

OP posts:
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Carla786 · 02/01/2026 19:02

Wellthisisrevealing · 02/01/2026 08:40

A huge majority do though. At least 75% of men own up to it

Just the top 3 porn sites of thousands and thousands of sites has more hits than Wikipedia, chatgpt, Twitter Instagram etc. Youd be amazed how high up pornsites are in viewing figures for the uk compared to other big sites

That doesn't include the fact that somepeople will be on google, reddit looking at porn which pushes them higher up than the traditional sites

Edited

Exactly! Reddit is a cesspit, full of disgusting porn subs.

Carla786 · 02/01/2026 19:01

ScorchingEgg · 02/01/2026 08:38

I think the women who are saying all men watch it are showing a real distaste for men as a class. What other thing can you say that all men do? Do you realise how ridiculous that sounds? Men are not a homogenous lump any more than women are - they are individuals who have preferences, likes and dislikes, morals and values. The bizarre objectification (yes really) of men in this thread says a lot about the people making those comments.

Look at male, or mostly male, forums. Plenty of men make sweeping statements about most men watching porn . Are they also objectifying men?

OonaStubbs · 02/01/2026 18:40

yes but did just as many men wank over porn while putting on a show of it being "morally distasteful"? Is it just more out in the open today?

Imbrocator · 02/01/2026 18:36

CoolFineDoneWicked · 02/01/2026 00:06

@Imbrocator
I’m surprised so many posters think that all men routinely watch porn. What do you think men did before the advent of the camera? Men having a wank somehow managed to get by for thousands of years before that.

They went to burlesque, stripteases and peep shows and wanked in the dark under their coats, along with a bunch of other men in the audience.

Or, like Leopold Bloom in Ulysses, they spent all day perving over various women, then masturbated in public while watching them.

Or they just drew or painted naked women, or bought drawings and paintings other men had done.

Edited

The crucial difference here is the ubiquity and mainstream acceptance of a deeply exploitative industry. Those behaviours were considered rightly morally distasteful at the time, whereas porn for many people is just “something my husband watches for fun when I’m away”.

babyproblems · 02/01/2026 17:17

I reckon nearly all men watch or have watched porn…. I think you’d struggle to find one who hadnt and never would again!!

OonaStubbs · 02/01/2026 17:16

Do blind men listen to porn?

emmetgirl · 02/01/2026 17:09

Any man who says he doesn’t watch porn is lying.
Trust me I’m right.

houseonthehill · 02/01/2026 17:05

Most men and most women use porn. I suspect that the stats for the latter are even more underreported, as the shame factor in self-reporting is probably a bit higher. So maybe 90% vs 75%?

That doesn’t really make it a full-blown gender issue.

DeftWasp · 02/01/2026 17:00

I'm a man, I haven't watched a "blue movie" as we called them since uni days, did we then, yep - on VHS!! three lads sharing a flat, did we have a Pirelli calendar in the kitchen, indeed, and a copy of mayfair in the magazine rack, yes also.

I think any man who tells you he has never watched porn in some format is most likely not on the level, and probably just saying so because he's embarrassed of his teenage laddishness.

starrynight009 · 02/01/2026 16:59

My ex told me he didn’t watch porn. He was a strict Christian. I discovered after a while he had a serious addiction to it and, unfortunately, it had twisted his understanding of what a healthy sex life was which ended our marriage. Porn addiction ends a lot of relationships...it's just hard for people to tell people that. Unfortunately I don't know how you can tell early on.

OneLimeDuck · 02/01/2026 16:59

Perspective of a 45yo man, for what it's worth.
I used porn when younger, it was when I was in my mid 20s that I began to think about what was being shown. I was never into anything but couples having sex or women masturbating, however it occurred to me that I had no idea of what coercion or circumstances lead to the woman being involved in porn. I stopped using it, which is not to say I didn't relapse occasionally, but certainly I had stopped completely before I was 30.
Looking back it horrifies me that the questions around the welfare of the women didn't occur to me earlier.
Nowadays being the father of 2 daughters it terrifies me what effect the porn that seems prevalent these days is having on boys. What sort of partner will my daughters have, should they be heterosexual, in the future.
As for asking a man if he watches porn, well an outright question risks an outright lie. The posters that suggest questions like what porn do you like are more on the money in finding the truth, in my opinion.
In the end it boils down to trust and to learning about the person as any relationship develops.

Dulcie6 · 02/01/2026 16:46

In my experience, they all watch it.

I remember when I was 18 and made my long term boyf promise not to watch it. He was such a genuine guy and I believed him when he said he’d stop watching it. I went through his laptop history one day (Yes, I was clearly a psycho), and found porn in his recent history.

I’m sure there are some Men out there who don’t watch it, but I think in the whole they do & will probably just lie to you about it.

I’ve accepted it as the norm for men now. I assume my partner watches it and I’m not fussed, but it definitely used to creep me out.

MandemChickenShop · 02/01/2026 16:43

Lie detector app

OriginalSkangCantGetInAccount · 02/01/2026 16:42

OonaStubbs · 02/01/2026 16:34

I have never understood what men get out of watching porn but I accept that (nearly) all of them watch it and there is nothing that can be done to stop it. It goes back almost to the dawn of time.

Orgasms, is what they get out of it

DontbesorrybeGiles · 02/01/2026 16:38

It’s possible I’m married to someone who doesn’t watch it but I don’t think I’ve ever asked and I don’t know what he does when I’m not around. I don’t think it would necessarily be a dealbreaker (depending on the type of porn of course) but it would probably make me see him in a somewhat different light if I found out he did.

OonaStubbs · 02/01/2026 16:34

I have never understood what men get out of watching porn but I accept that (nearly) all of them watch it and there is nothing that can be done to stop it. It goes back almost to the dawn of time.

X123x321X · 02/01/2026 16:29

You can't tell. People are turned on by different things. Some men don't get a thrill from pictures and videos, while others have a very dysfunctional relationship with it and can't get turned on by anything else.

ShamedBySiri · 02/01/2026 16:04

I recommend this podcast @SharpMintBeaker

I had no idea about Hugh Hefner and Marilyn Monroe.
Really horrible.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/subject-to-power/id1649558183?i=1000614060897

ShamedBySiri · 02/01/2026 16:02

What disgusting pigs men are.
My daughter works in the theatre department of my hospital. Just recently they were doing a circumcision on a young(ish) adult, under local anaesthetic. He spent the entire time regaling the anaesthetic nurse looking after him with details of his porn and masturbation habits. She is an innocent soul (or was until her dealings with this chap) and was thoroughly shocked and disgusted. At the end the surgeon said “No porn or masturbation for two weeks” which was a cue for further vile vulgarity.
Why should we have to put up with that shit.

Hold out for someone decent or don’t bother OP.

Tiedyeegg · 02/01/2026 13:59

You really just have to trust that they’re telling you the truth, unless you have a concrete reason not to believe them.

If your attitude at the beginning of a relationship is ‘well he’s definitely going to lie to me, how do I trick him into telling the truth’ then it’s never going to be a healthy or happy one

Cleikumstovies · 02/01/2026 13:42

Wellthisisrevealing · 02/01/2026 08:48

I used to have what was a precursor to only fans before it existed. Firstly I'd say there isn't a type, I've seen all sorts of people engaging with my content/me. You name it, I saw it! Including churchy men as previously discussed and feminist men. I had direct contact with some people so know more about them, but i would also say after something went vaguely viral (before it was a thing!) i was surprised at the level of family men in real life that surrounded me in everyday life that deliberately saught me out eg life long family friends of my parents, partners of friends, old teachers etc

There is a sliding scale of porn imo and you have to decide where you sit on whats your line. For example
Seeking out personalised contact
Paying for generic content
1:1 webcamming
Personalised vids + Pics
Free General explicit videos

Then accessing porn on generic sites etc, all the way down to people using unsexualised photos from catalogues or even friends

I would have less of a problem of a partner viewing a porn site for example, then I would if they were using a bikini photo of a friend. Porn isn't a homogeneous lump of things, I know plenty of people who "dont use porn" but do look at lingerie pics for example.

Edited

Excellent on the scale.
Looking at an Anne summers catalogue?
Looking at what once was top shelf magazines?
Looking at stills of naked/semi dressed women?
Video streams of women
Video streams of "normal" sex
Extreme streams?

WalkDontWalk · 02/01/2026 10:49

@LadyBlakeneysHanky

Think about sex with your partner. Does he ever look at his own penis as it moves in and out of you? That’s because of porn.

What??

Without getting into the question of how batshit crazy that is - especially the emphasis on 'ever' - can we just address the issue of what it means if a woman ever looks at that? Or is that prospect too shocking even to be considered?

Wellthisisrevealing · 02/01/2026 10:26

MightyGoldBear · 02/01/2026 09:59

Whilst I think everyone can agree a great majority of men watch pornography or some form of sexual content. I do think it's very damaging to have a view that absolutely all do.

We need to make room to change the narrative. So that young boys and girls grow up thinking it's not a default. Both have choice if they engage or not. We don't want to feed into the narrative that it's not just "normal" but what young boys and girls should be doing. If they dont then somehow boys are not the red hot blooded men they should be. That girls are then "vanilla" or controlling because they don't want their boyfriend getting sexual gratification from outside their relationship. Or a can't beat them join them mentality. I'm yet to meet a girl or women who has must watch pornography on their list of wants in a partner.

It's dangerous to put a blanket statement of all men do and will and if they say they don't they definitely still do. There are young boys as young as 9 to 13 addicted to pornography. They think there is no hope for them. Because "thats just what men do" plenty of forums like your brain on porn website show the utter anguish some are in over pornography use/addiction.

Boys and men are very capable of deciding for themselves they don't want to watch pornography. Some choose not to.
We don't believe women are incapable of this choice. Changing the narrative is the first steps to change.

I think this is a really valid point

However I do also think we need to be aware of the narrative that it's always some other man. If the current estimate of 82% is correct then it seems unlikely that these are all seedy men and not the men we know and love. The reality is that there's a false certainty that it's other people's husbands, that Internet controls are 100%, and they simply wouldn't have time. Its a false security

Having "worked" in the industry it's absolutely indiscriminate, it's everyone and everywhere and most assurances (especially in regards to teens) are completely inadequate. My experience tells me that people who wish to or have more than a vague passing interest are not impacted by parental control or even the government Id stuff because it's easy to circumvent and there is always time

For me (and i know I'm repeating my self!) people's definition of porn wildly differs. Some people would say they dont access it because they only class it as videos whilst frequently accessing erotic stories, or looking at bikini pics for sexual gratification

randomchap · 02/01/2026 10:21

YourZippyHare · 02/01/2026 10:15

I don't think mine does now, although he has in the past, as have I.

Firstly because we have had discussions around how unethical it is (as in... women being trafficked, not people watching sex in general). But also because I am not sure when he'd have the opportunity. We live in a tiny house and have four kids, neither of us gets much time/space alone, we have strict controls on our Internet due to having teens and pre-teens...

He also says why would I even bother, when I have the real thing with you?

I believe him.

He'd have to be literally going off to the loos at work or something. Which is a pretty grim thought.

Vpns will get past your Internet controls. Download the Opera browser that comes with a free one. Try it

Don't rely on technology to protect your kids.

YourZippyHare · 02/01/2026 10:15

I don't think mine does now, although he has in the past, as have I.

Firstly because we have had discussions around how unethical it is (as in... women being trafficked, not people watching sex in general). But also because I am not sure when he'd have the opportunity. We live in a tiny house and have four kids, neither of us gets much time/space alone, we have strict controls on our Internet due to having teens and pre-teens...

He also says why would I even bother, when I have the real thing with you?

I believe him.

He'd have to be literally going off to the loos at work or something. Which is a pretty grim thought.