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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

Help please! How can I deal with husbands porn addiction?

46 replies

Ghxreeba · 30/07/2024 01:32

Hi ladies,
This is my first time posting so I hope I’m doing this right.
I’ve been married to my husband for 5 years. We’ve had our ups and downs but we’re mostly happy. He has been a porn addict since he was exposed to it from young. I didn’t know this was a problem until maybe about a year ago. He does truly want to get better but has struggled. I don’t know how bad it really is as he is ashamed and doesn’t feel comfortable talking about it. I personally don’t mind porn. I used to occasionally use it myself and I expected him to also be watching it more frequently than I am just because he is a male. I honestly still don’t mind him watching porn but I feel really hurt when I find out he’s been using girls social media profiles to get off. Tiktok, twitter, instagram, snapchat, telegram, Reddit and even only fans at some point. I don’t like that he’s watching females solo performances. I’ve talked to him about this many times but it seems this is what he is addicted to at the moment. The focus is on the girl and only her. It hurts the
most when I see that they’re clothed but naked. And often not doing explicitly sexual stuff but dancing or twerking, showing off their bodies. I’m currently 6 months pregnant and suffering from depression so I feel the pain is worse than ever before. I’m tired of being insecure and worrying about what he’s up to. I truly believe him when he says he wants to change but I know the journey to recover will be long and trying. I expect that he will slip up and relapse. How can I deal with my insecurity ? So that I’m not bothered by him getting off to girls social media’s just like I’m not bothered by him using porn.

OP posts:
H112 · 31/07/2024 01:09

There's porn addiction and there is cheating.

Only fans Instagram etc is cheating

Ghxreeba · 31/07/2024 01:49

H112 · 31/07/2024 01:09

There's porn addiction and there is cheating.

Only fans Instagram etc is cheating

@H112 that explains why I feel this way🥲

OP posts:
suburberphobe · 31/07/2024 01:52

Deal with it by leaving him. Set the wheels in motion because this is never going to get better.

Mmhmmn · 31/07/2024 01:56

suburberphobe · 31/07/2024 01:52

Deal with it by leaving him. Set the wheels in motion because this is never going to get better.

This. He’s dragging you down with him into the gutter.

LilyBartsHatShop · 31/07/2024 02:25

Someone mentioned Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA) upthread.
I've used a twelve step program myself and found it overall very helpful for me. And I know AA is good at supporting the spouses of addicts, with Al-Anon.
But the only experience I've had of SAA makes me a bit wary. My cousin was in a very similar situation to you, OP, and her husband did an SAA program for a while. Where they're at now is that she has adjusted (I would say lowered) her standards to fit in with what he wants to do - i.e. more porn. I don't know if that pressure came from SAA but they certainly didn't prevent it.
I know you say in your OP that you want your standards / preferences / values / boundaries to shift so that you're no longer upset by what your OH does, but I think that's really unhealthy. I don't know why it's expected that women will do this. I actually think my cousin is in a controlling relationship now, her husband has become more and more entitled and boorish.

Itsjustmeheretoday · 31/07/2024 02:41

If it's a genuine addiction then like most successful people he'll need therapy of some sort. I think this is a hard road, particularly as he'll always be exposed to this in some form as we're surrounded and constantly bombarded with sexual images. It would be like an alcoholic having to work in a bar. I'm not sure who would be ok being with someone like this, and you need to decide sooner rather than later if you really think you can deal with this. It's sad that a child is now going to be in this unhealthy environment as well. Time for some serious decisions on your part. Sorry, but love isn't enough. I hope you also get the support you need and have some people in RL Flowers

XChrome · 31/07/2024 03:15

Aquamarine1029 · 30/07/2024 03:16

Your marriage is doomed. I know that's not what you want to hear, but it's the truth. This sickness of his will destroy you, and you can't fix him.

100%. His brain has been ruined by porn. I doubt there's any fix for it when you've used it that long.
Eventually he will be impotent.

Omlettes · 31/07/2024 04:14

Ghxreeba · 30/07/2024 01:32

Hi ladies,
This is my first time posting so I hope I’m doing this right.
I’ve been married to my husband for 5 years. We’ve had our ups and downs but we’re mostly happy. He has been a porn addict since he was exposed to it from young. I didn’t know this was a problem until maybe about a year ago. He does truly want to get better but has struggled. I don’t know how bad it really is as he is ashamed and doesn’t feel comfortable talking about it. I personally don’t mind porn. I used to occasionally use it myself and I expected him to also be watching it more frequently than I am just because he is a male. I honestly still don’t mind him watching porn but I feel really hurt when I find out he’s been using girls social media profiles to get off. Tiktok, twitter, instagram, snapchat, telegram, Reddit and even only fans at some point. I don’t like that he’s watching females solo performances. I’ve talked to him about this many times but it seems this is what he is addicted to at the moment. The focus is on the girl and only her. It hurts the
most when I see that they’re clothed but naked. And often not doing explicitly sexual stuff but dancing or twerking, showing off their bodies. I’m currently 6 months pregnant and suffering from depression so I feel the pain is worse than ever before. I’m tired of being insecure and worrying about what he’s up to. I truly believe him when he says he wants to change but I know the journey to recover will be long and trying. I expect that he will slip up and relapse. How can I deal with my insecurity ? So that I’m not bothered by him getting off to girls social media’s just like I’m not bothered by him using porn.

This is one where your only hope of dealing with it, is by leaving.
You are in a degrading scenario thats eating away at your self respect.
You cant change him, nor can you save him.

YesIAmGoingToEatTheWholeCake · 31/07/2024 05:16

So sorry OP. About 16 years ago I found myself in a relationship with a man who I feel head over heels in love with. About a year into the relationship I discovered he had a porn addiction. I should have realised as the signs were all there but I didn't.

It utterly broke my heart and I lost all respect for him really. It made me insecure, feel humiliated and anxious. He didn't like it either and wanted to stop. He did try and but it impossible. He tried to restrict himself to vanilla porn but I don't think it worked. He said only about 5% of it actually turned him on but despite this he felt compelled to do it everyday in case he missed any 'new ones'. He said he started on quite tame stuff but then got bored and it didn't turn him on anymore so he moved on to 'worse' stuff and then he got desesitised to that and so then he had to watch even 'worse' stuff to get any kind of reaction.

Our relationship consisted of him being affectionate, nice etc but having next to no sexual interest in me (and I was still young, slim and attractive in those days). I practically use to have to beg for sex and it was demeaning and awful

I drove myself mad trying to police him and it was a relief when we broke up.
I learned alot about the porn industry from that experience and it is horrifying.
It never used to bother me in the days of top shelf magazines and the odd video but today with so much of it on the internet and it has gone way, way beyond what we used to have.

It literally seems that men have thought up dozens and dozens of new ways to penetrate, violate , humiliate and hurt women.
If you go onto a porn site and watch some of the retro or vintage porn you will see that it is quite different. Whilst there is still some things that I don't think the average couple does there was alot of just 'normal' sex with normal things like bj's for him and oral sex for her. There didn't seem to be a huge majority of porn where women where being humiliated, hurt, degraded like there is now.

It really woke me up to a world that I didn't want to know about where men seem so much more scary than they did before.
After all if they are making this stuff then men must be watching it.

My ex was also obsessed with pregnant woman (ironic since he didn't actually want kids) and told me men had forums where they discussed pregnant woman (yes he sounds like a great catch!)

I read once upon a time that you used to have to go out of your way to see porn but nowadays you have to go out of your way to NOT see porn.

I am very glad I was a young dating women in the era where the cool thing of porn was oral sex for women and all the men seemed to want to practice on you. I would hate to be a young person today where it seems men expect anal sex, to strangle you, choke you and come on your face all by date 4. (I know it's not all men but among the younger men it is becoming a pattern)

No thanks. It is very worrying indeed.
Even nice boys who have been brought up in good families are bound to be affected and influenced by this as they go through puberty and have the huge sex drives of young men. So many threads on here where the man is not interested in having sex with his partner because he is wanked out looking at porn.

I worked with (I was his manager) a sweet, polite, lovely young man who was about 20 when I was late thirties. It turned out he was watching porn at work and going off to the toilets to bat one out. He got given a warning. He got moved seats to a more open position where people could see his screen. He still couldn't stop and got caught doing it again. He was fired. He wasn't creepy or pervy and he was mortified when he got caught again. He was a good kid from a good family who had grown up in an era of never ending easily got at porn.

Sorry I have no answers for you. Even if you ended this relationship who's to say the next guy won't have the same problem. For that reason if he is willing I would suggest he tries to get help first. If he can't give it up only you can decide what to do.

CurlewKate · 31/07/2024 06:54

@Ghxreeba Am I understanding? You're 22, you've been married for 5 years, you've got a non verbal 3 year old, you're pregnant and your husband is joining the Navy next month?
Are your parents around? Is there anyone else in your life who can help you?

This is the link to Women's Aid. www.womensaid.org.uk/

Ladybugdance · 31/07/2024 06:57

I’ve sent a private message with some details

ineedtogwtoutbeforeitatoohot · 31/07/2024 07:01

His a total looser. He doesn't even support you financially. What is the point to him ? Just get rid. his a disgusting sneeze bag Envy

AyrehFeek · 31/07/2024 07:35

Ghxreeba · 31/07/2024 01:49

@H112 that explains why I feel this way🥲

It’s only cheating if YOU personally think it’s cheating. Not because another poster sees it that way. Some see porn as cheating. Some see even saying hello to another woman as cheating on here.

I personally wouldn’t see Only Fans as cheating. Cheating to me is physical sexual contact.

candycane222 · 31/07/2024 07:43

OH is other half, ie husband, partner, etc

H112 · 31/07/2024 07:50

Ghxreeba · 31/07/2024 01:49

@H112 that explains why I feel this way🥲

Only fans and Instagram is personal. It's not an attractive woman in a porno that you forget about.

I watch porn but I'd never do that. It's so inappropriate it is cheating.

My ex last year was on only fans I went absolutely bizzurk turned out then there was a girl on Snapchat too. Cheating fk.

Jazzicatz · 31/07/2024 07:52

I will preface my comment with the fact that I am a radical feminist and hold a very particular view about the damaging effects of pornography. I don’t believe in sex addiction, I believe instead that it’s about entitlement and the idea that many men think they are entitled to sex and to gawp at women’s bodies whenever they choose and obviously porn is a good opportunity to do that. OP, your husband could stop using porn, he doesn’t because it’s easier for him to get himself off and he isn’t bothered that it upsets you as he feels fully entitled to use it. My advice is to leave him, spend time healing and rebuilding your self esteem and if you decide you want a partner in the future, find one that isn’t an entitled prick.

InWithPeaceOutWithStress · 31/07/2024 07:52

Ghxreeba · 30/07/2024 23:53

@InWithPeaceOutWithStress
He’s a total phone addict! Can’t live without internet, like how would he entertain himself?? His entire family is like this unfortunately. Their family time would consist of them sitting in the living room with a movie playing and each and every one of them(from the 8yr old youngest kid to the 50 year old dad) on devices. I jokingly suggested he get a flip phone today and he said he’d rather a nokia brick 🤣 I might bring it up again to show I’m seriously interested

That’s almost as bad as the porn tbh. What kind of life is it of your partner is hooked to their phone 24/7? See if he’ll install and pay for Truple to prove to you he’s not still using.

CurlewKate · 31/07/2024 07:55

@Jazzicatz
". I don’t believe in sex addiction, I believe instead that it’s about entitlement and the idea that many men think they are entitled to sex and to gawp at women’s bodies whenever they choose and obviously porn is a good opportunity to do that. OP, your husband could stop using porn, he doesn’t because it’s easier for him to get himself off and he isn’t bothered that it upsets you as he feels fully entitled to use it."

Yes. This.

Mischance · 31/07/2024 08:02

You don't know if he's worth it. Let me help you there ... he's not.

Go now and bring yor expected child up in a healthy atmosphere.

TheNuthatch · 31/07/2024 09:21

So you've both been married since you were 17 op? I'm assuming this is your only long-term, serious relationship so you don't know any different!
Your marriage isn't a healthy one, you need to think about the future for you and your soon to be two dc. Your H sounds very immature and selfish. It's really sad that he's made you feel like you couldn't even sit on a beach with him, that's totally wrong.
You say he's joining the navy soon, but I am absolutely certain that it will not fix his so-called porn addiction. Do you have any family you can rely on? I think your focus right now should be getting a secure home for you and your dc. Your H will be away for long periods soon anyway, so I doubt you would want to continue living with his Dad. Try and build a life for yourself, I think you might start to see your partner for what he is. Good luck.

H112 · 31/07/2024 18:04

AyrehFeek · 31/07/2024 07:35

It’s only cheating if YOU personally think it’s cheating. Not because another poster sees it that way. Some see porn as cheating. Some see even saying hello to another woman as cheating on here.

I personally wouldn’t see Only Fans as cheating. Cheating to me is physical sexual contact.

Are you joking? Following and chatting to women on Insta and OF is cheating. It doesn't have to be physical.

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