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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

DH's porn has really upset me

9 replies

Iceandslice · 22/03/2008 10:37

I posted a similar thread on chat last night but thought I'd post it here too as I still need to sort it in my head so I'd welcome some perspective. I don't think either of us are being particlarly unreasonable but it's just a bit tangled in my brain.

Found out that dh has been looking at some fairly hardcore porn online. Not really had a problem with his interest in porn before, its been fairly soft magazines- as far as I know- and I found it mildly amusing (predictable unimaginative stuff) that made me think of him as a hormonal teenager thrapping away merrily in his bedroom hoping his mum wouldn't catch him. We've looked at some of it together in the past, and some films a friend of his lent him. So he knows I've not got upset about it before.

Our sex life has taken a bit of a nose dive recently however, down to me- I'm pregnant with dc2, hormonal, been v sick in hospital with hyperemesis lots etc and my libido has taken flight. It's been mercy shags on a sunday morning at the most. He knows I feel sad about this, we're normally quite a lusty couple, but at the same time I just really don't want to do it.

Finding the list of search phrases used recently on our laptop really shocked me. (Espedcially as I was on the Ikea website and a drop down list on storage brought up a whole lot more solutions than I expected- would be funny if I wasn't so upset!) I thought they were just "cookies" or summat (no really sure on techie stuff) and not things that he'd actually entered but when he said that they were I burst into tears.

I feel so useless and inadequate, and still not really sure of what else it is I'm feeling. We've talked about it a little bit but I can't stop crying when we do so its not really productive and I don't know what to do.

The fact that he was honest and said that he had entered the phrases makes me realise that he honestly wasn't being shifty or anything, he really hadn't thought I would have a problem with it and didn't expect me to react how I have. That's comforting a bit as I know he wasn't doing it knowing it would hurt me if I found out.

I've said to dh that what I really need is for him to reassure me that the type of stuff he was looking at is not what he's hankering after when we have sex, and that it's just "stuff" he' looking at rather than feeling he's missing out on at home iyswim. But he hasn't, which of course makes me worry that it actually is what he wants and that I am never going to be enough. He just got really defensive even though I've tried hard not to be accusatory, and I guess that is what makes me feel really .

I've namechanged for this as even though I'm not a well known poster, dh knows my normal user name (I didn't think we had secrets ) - it's a pet name we use for each other.

Not really sure why I'm posting, I know porn has been done to death on MN but just feel really betrayed, like I don't really know who dh is/wants

Is it my hormones blowing this out of all propotion?

OP posts:
CrushWithEyeliner · 22/03/2008 10:52

Sorry to hear you are so down x

Hard to say without knowing the terms he used- why was this stuff different from the "norm" and particularly upsetting to you? Or was it the fact that he was looking at all?
I suspect he may be feeling v embarrassed about it all...

Iceandslice · 22/03/2008 11:01

It was just a lot more hardcore than the stuff I knew about/shared before. I am neither a lesbian nor a teen nor particularly partial to anal and to find the three things are combined in a search it was a bit surprising.

I'm not offended especially by those things but just a bit hurt that he has been getting kicks out of it I suppose.

OP posts:
totalmisfit · 22/03/2008 11:05

i think really trying to talk to him again would be a good idea. maybe make a list of questions you need answers to before you sit down. if what he says is still different from what you need to hear, and you get the impression that this is something you're not going to be able to just 'get over' and forget about, maybe think about talking it over with a third party? i know the idea of talking to a relationship counsellor is probably a bit excessive to consider right now, but if at some point in the future you feel you can't quite come to terms with this aspect of his behaviour and it's causing other problems, you might want to think about it. Sorry if i'm jumping the gun.

bethoo · 22/03/2008 11:13

i think the only time i would be concerned would be if he was watching gay porn (man on man) so i would not worry if i were you.

anal and girl on girl is the norm i think.

scanner · 22/03/2008 11:15

I think you sound lovely and far more level headed then a lot of women are in response to porn. Your response is very understandable, if I read you right what you're saying is that you'll be ok with it, if it's just fantasy. The fact that you dh hasn't reassured you of this doesn't necessarily mean that it's more than fantasy. There's a high chance he's just being a bloke, panicing like a dear caught in the headlights.

Yes, your hormones aren't helping, but you have a legitimate set of feelings. Perhaps you need to calmly explain again that you need to understand why he was looking for this sort of porn. You need to give him an 'out' a way of telling you if it is more than fantasy though. Fwiw I bet he says he's just looking, missing your sex life a little and that all is ok.

windygalestoday · 22/03/2008 11:20

ill cheer u up...........
my dh (bless him) is a lorry driver and videos and mags often get passed around this particular video was supposed to be very good and dh said to me did i wanna watch it too no says i -im off to bed now my dh who rarely asks me to watch it with him as i find it a bit funny and a bit seedy and i always find myself checking out the decor lol........well within 10 mins he was upstairs very very shocked .......turns out are u ready?
<
<
the 'star' was his very good friends daughter

glaskham · 22/03/2008 11:22

I have to agree with scammer, I used to watch porn with DH, used to act out some bits sometimes....but since our kids arrived we haven't done much with it anymore....its almost like it didn't exist....so if i found DH was looking at similar things i'd worry if he was looking because he wasn't getting it from me....on the other hand i may just look myself and enjoy a bit!! haha!! (sorry if that was no help at all)

ChocolateRockingHorse · 22/03/2008 11:25

IceandSlice, I know it's upsetting but a great many men are very interested in what lesbians get up to (even though the "lipstick variety" they see online are probably not remotely gay or even bisexual - just acting!).. it doesn't mean he wants you to be one.. far from it in fact. Similarly a great many men seem to be intrigued by anal. And the nature of the WWW is that its all there at their finger tips, for them to look at. And how men love to look! They are, always have been and always will be, very visual creatures. Most of them are also far more into self pleasuring than most women.. it's just a means to and end, and apparently the vast majority of those with a healthy sex drive, do it, and often like to look at something ridiculous erotic while they do.

In all honestly, as long as he is not into anything more "interactive" with regards to online porn, you may be better off getting your head round it as long as he is no less loving/caring to you. He will probably be less interested in porn when you have your love life back on track. As long as he is not showing signs of actual obsession/addiction to online porn, take it from me, you are perhaps better off not trying to "ban him" - you will end up hurt, time and again when he "lets you down". It's there you see... and for that reason alone, those of them who enjoy it find it very difficult to leave it entirely alone even when they know it will cause the women they love hurt and upset. They tell themselves they'll have "just a quick look" and then try not to think about it too much at all, other than reassuring themselves that what we don't know can't hurt us. Best not to get to that place in the first place.

I know you don't really feel like it at the moment (understandable) but when you are having a relatively ok-feeling day, perhaps you could make an effort to spend some quality time together with/without actual sex, maybe enjoy a bit of harmless porn together as you have in the past.

glaskham · 22/03/2008 11:26

sorry scanner not scammer...wasn't trying to say anything by that!!

and at windygales story!!!

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