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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

found porn pics on the computer

35 replies

howthehelldoidealwiththis · 31/03/2007 22:42

to cut a v.long story short, my dp has always said that he doesn't look at porn (previous partners had and lied about extent) and i have believed him; some men do, some don't. i went away for weekend and when i get back he tells me that he was curious and looked at some pictures. part of me wished he hadn't said anything but part of me was glad that he was being honest.

tonight, however, he is at work on nights so i come on mumsnet for chat (as you do ) i check the internet history files (for curiosity sake) and i now find that he has visited rather more than a few sites - try at least 10- and the pics leave very little to the imagination. however one of the sites was "findafriend" type thing and i wish that i hadn't checked the site because it also has find f* buddies locally on it.

i am sick to stomach with shock omg i feel sick it now feels like he's lied but i don't know how far it has gone if anywhere. i am still getting over pnd and have recently started trusting him again after a very shaky start. i know i should talk to him when he gets home but like the name change says how the hell do i deal with this???????????

OP posts:
Spidermama · 31/03/2007 22:46

Sorry. This is the last thing you need after PND. I have no experience so can't really offer any advice except to say that it's one thing looking at a f*ck buddies site and quite another actually doing anything about it.

If it were me I'd just somehow start the coversation, trying not to be angry but don't hide that you're upset, and go from there.

Good luck.

howthehelldoidealwiththis · 01/04/2007 21:56

hi spidermama, thanx for your reply, i'm sorry i did not get to read it laast night.

well, we did have a chat and he explained that it was just curiosity so i explained to him how i felt and what i felt about finding such things on the history files - he is the only fella i've been in love with that hasn't needed to look at such things (tho i did take that with a v.small pinch of salt) but now that has been blown out of the water, so to speak. he said that he had gone to a site to download a film for me and these other sites were listed. they weren't in the drop dpwn menu from the taskbar (where you enter the www addresses) but they were in the history files so maybe they were linked sites.

i think the best thing we can do now is just concentrate on the fact that he was honest and told me as soon as he had looked and then move on from there. because to do otherwise would just set me back even further.

so thanx for your help.

hows you and yours? i read some of your other thread about your boy and some of ther advice seemed very helpful - i hope things work out for you x

OP posts:
madamez · 01/04/2007 23:41

Would advise you to work on ways of boosting your self-esteem, confidence and happiness that work for you not just with regard to your relationship with a partner. Policing another person's communications, thoughts and reading materials is not a recipe for happiness in any circumstances.

giraffeski · 01/04/2007 23:42

Message withdrawn

GreenandBlackOtter · 01/04/2007 23:43

he told her when he look giraffski

giraffeski · 01/04/2007 23:45

Message withdrawn

jellybellynally · 01/04/2007 23:47

i actually think that most men look at porn. i have never had a problem with it personally , but totally understand that if you are feeling a bit fragile it probably doesn't help

GreenandBlackOtter · 01/04/2007 23:53

he told her he visited them

ThisEasterTime · 01/04/2007 23:55

sorry for hijack Greenandblack otter - just wondered how your LO is as followed your poorly thread x

GreenandBlackOtter · 01/04/2007 23:57

like a different child Easter thankyou - he has turned the corner and is smiling and laughing ! Eating tonnes to make up for a long poorliness --thanks for asking

ThisEasterTime · 01/04/2007 23:58

glad to hear it x

ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands · 02/04/2007 00:08

Oh FFS. This makes me angry. I'll get to what in a minute. But first MadameZ for GOD'S sake stay the feck on the threads you frequent that advise people to have kinky sex in open relationships and NOT ones that are posted by people in monogamous one-to-one relationships who are feeling vulnerable about something sex-related which is NOT in ANY way their own fault!

I find it really bloody annoying when I see people smugly saying over and over again "all men look at porn.. it's natural/normal/if you have a problem with it then you have a lot of self esteem issues and therefore YOU are the one with the problem, NOT him!"

Let't get one thing straight there.. in a relationship, if EITHER partner persists in doing ANYTHING avoidable that upsets the other half to such a great degree then THAT PERSON is most definitely the one with problem.. and is CAUSING a problem for their partner!

YES! Men (and often women) will look at porn.. it's normal.. they are curious.. they like to have wank fodder.. blardy blardy blah.. but IF this habit of their leads them onto sites which enable them to look up potential f*ck buddies or similar (and it often does.. this is the nature of the internet more's the pity.. SO much more than a soft porn mag), this is NOT the same thing.. it is enough to crush the once-fine self respect of a great many (arguably MOST?!) usually-self confident women into the ground for a good long time. Expecting those women to go do an assertive class is NOT going to help them feel jolly about their relationship again!

Maybe you have to have HAD your confidence stamped into the ground in this way to truly understand.. but people should try NOT to just say "get over it.. porn it normal/part of life.."; this is not productive or supportive, especially when the poster has been suffering and DEALING with depression. She should NOT have to deal with the knowledge of her DH's (even passing) interest in looking up fuck buddies (even if he had no intention of acting on it which chances are he probably did not!), much less be told to "deal with it"! Sermons about not "policing" people's actions and activies is crap advice as well.. do you think women WANT to live like this? They get driven to it against their will be having their life partner (because most of us choose to relate to ONE partner at a time [hmm) screw with their heads if not with other women as their (understandbly!) grow to live in fear that he might want to!

howthehelldoidealwiththis.. the key to dealing with this is communication. (And sorry for the outburst but I have held it in a long time!). TELL DP that you CAN'T and WON'T deal with him surfing those kinds of buddy sites. And that of course, he is free to do as he pleases, it is entirely up to him how he chooses to conduct himself, but that doing so is not conducive to a relationship with you because of how it makes you feel. That is YOUR perogative and it's not unreasonable at all.

Looking at a "bit of online porn" is of course not the same thing and does not have to be harmful to a relationship at all, but the fact is that SOME men (happily- married ones at that often, and for no good reason) allow themselves to be distracted by all the other offers in the "area" that the WWW can provide.. and sadly, once that has happened, not many partners can feel that relaxed about letting them get on with their porn viewing. It's not that hard to work out why, although you'd think it was from the blase replies that these threads always attract.

((Hugs)) to you.. talk to him.. stop panicking and communicate. It will most likely be ok.

jellybellynally · 02/04/2007 00:14

sorry if my comment came across as flippant. feeling bad now hope you are ok

ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands · 02/04/2007 00:17

Jelly, yours didn't. You acknowledged that it made HTHDIDWT feel bad. Many women who may never have an issue with porn in the past end up feeling bad because of the "additional stuff" it can lead to.

Mamalennon · 02/04/2007 00:56

Hi there - it's horrible to go through this. A while ago our TV bill registered that on four occasions within a couple of weeks 'adult material' had been purchased. I thought it was my BIL who had been visiting and asked DH to have words. DH avoided the issue, I brought it up again a couple of times and at the end of the evening he said 'I feel really stupid, it was me'. I was glad he'd told me and I tried to be cool about it. The next day I wrote him a note saying I was upset and wanted us to have a better sex life so he didn't feel the need to watch porn films while I was asleep in bed. He said he'd done it out of curiosity, it was nothing to do with me. It probably is hard for men to resist having a look at what's out there and it doesn't reflect on your relationship, but be clear with him that it upsets you and makes you feel insecure. As far as I know DH hasn't done it since.

However, I have tried to prioritise our sex life more since finding out he'd been watching porn, it sort of rang a few alarm bells for me. That's probably not a very feminist approach, but it's the truth!

MellowMa · 02/04/2007 07:05

Message withdrawn

NotQuiteCockney · 02/04/2007 07:58

Hmmm, I'm sorry you're having a hard time with this, howthehelldoidealwiththis. It really is good that he told you what he'd done - it indicates that it's important to him that he be truthful with you, and it indicates that looking at porn isn't a normal thing to him (so he hasn't been lying to you about this all along).

Personally, I think porn use, within reason, is a private thing, and not really the other half of the couple's problem or business, but I know this isn't everyone's view.

ShinyHappy, I really disagree with your statement: "in a relationship, if EITHER partner persists in doing ANYTHING avoidable that upsets the other half to such a great degree then THAT PERSON is most definitely the one with problem.. and is CAUSING a problem for their partner". But I will start a separate thread about this, because this really isn't the place for it.

madamez · 02/04/2007 09:36

Shinyhappy: not everyone thinks the same way about everything: that's obivous. But telling people not to say anything if they hold different opinions is not wildly productive: hearing a variety of opinions on one's dilemmas is helpful even if it's only because hearing advice that you feel is wrong for you helps you decide what is right for you.
So I'll carry on expressing my views when I see fit, thanks.

ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands · 02/04/2007 10:07

You views are your business Madamez and you have a right to them. But when you share them in relation to someone who is suffering a great deal of emotional pain and you response barely seems to acknowledge that fact except to suggest that they "find a way of dealing with it" then I don't see how that can possibly be helpful. But, as you say, you have a right to express your views and carry on doing so. I in turn felt the need to point out to you how they may be contstrued as less than helpful on occasion.

NQC I will be interested to see your other thread and will look out for it. I respect your views on many threads so will be intrigued to see why you think that one partner's behaviour which is deeply and persistantly upsetting to the other partner is not a problem caused by the person exhibiting the behaviour! I suppose you could say it wasn't a problem if the (eg!) woman was fineand dandy with it.. but in a situation like that which this thread relates to specifically (for instance) not many women who had hoped they were in loving, monogamous relationships with their DP's (which accounts for the majority I would imagine) WOULD be fine or dandy I suspect!

Mamalennon · 02/04/2007 10:15

I've reread your post this morning. I do think
it's a really good sign that your DH told you about the pictures and, as others have said, portn sites will bring up enticing links which is why, once someone starts down that route they can get pulled in deeper than they intended, human weakness being what it is. I think it's really important for him to know he must stop because of the effect it has on you rather than because it's 'shameful'. My DH tells me that men can often change their behaviour to help the woman they love, not because they've been reprimanded over it.
Good luck

morningpaper · 02/04/2007 10:23

10 sites is nothing on a brief internet porn trawl - honestly you could view 10 sites in about 2 minutes.

I really wouldn't worry. He told you that he had done it. The Find a Friend type site he might have clicked on once or just looked at the pics (!) and didn't even register that it was a dating type site.

Honestly 10 sites would be a very brief session indeed. I hope you can move on.

vimfuego · 02/04/2007 11:14

I think he's entitled to look at porn in his own time, without anyone else trawling through the history to see what he's been up to.

I don't think porn use in moderation will have a negative or any other impact on a person's normal sex life.

If you look at internet porn all kinds of other pages are often thrown up (such as f**k buddy sites), these are advertisements, they will appear in the browser history the same as the original site.

ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands · 02/04/2007 12:24

He may be entitled to look at what he wants to look at in his own time without anyone trawling through the history... but it is perhaps unreasonable to expect a partner NOT to get the urge to check history when she is feeling insecure and upset specifically because she has reason to believe he has been viewing "f*ck buddy" sites. Unfortunately, without a LOT of communication (which is key) she won't know whether he looked "by accident", "out of mild curisoty with no intention of "doing anything" " or "with a view to contacting someone". Unless she is psychic of course. .

And history files are of course deletable individually which can make a day's surfing appear innocent when it isn't.

chacha3 · 02/04/2007 12:27

how do you get up the internet history?????

vimfuego · 02/04/2007 12:29

Control-Shift-H in Internet Explorer.

But remember what your mum said about listening at doorways.

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