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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

DH's porn habit is destroying my confidence

154 replies

OchreSheep · 30/10/2025 14:01

DH and I have been together for 10 years, 2 DC aged 5 and 7. Generally happy, we have ups and downs like any relationship and I do feel there's a misbalance within the household with chores and general day-to-day "life admin" stuff falling on me, despite us both working FT. He's also doing a part-time MBA which is crippling us, he's hiding away all evening and most of the weekends to do his work and I subsequently feel lonely but I do understand why he's doing it for the financial security afterwards. He has a MSc already and is successful at work salary wise but his work agreed to pay for this so he understandably leapt at the chance. That's the background.

Around 3-4 years ago, he was noticably struggling to ejaculate and I became concerned about this. I was worried, in a small way, that either he was cheating or no longer found me attractive so I confronted him. He was very open and honest and admitted to having a porn habit. He said it started when he was a young teen and he wasn't really sure why he did it, it was a habit he hadn't been able to break and that he generally did it to alleviate tension and stress. I was quite upset, explained my thoughts on the porn industry (concerned about trafficking, sexual exploitation, underage women on there etc) and also that it knocked my confidence, made me feel inadequate in some way and I wasn't comfortable with him regularly getting off to women I could never look like without major plastic surgery. It was an incredibly open conversation and he said he would work really hard to stop using it.

I admittedly haven't thought much about it since. It's been a hectic few years for various reasons and I haven't given it much headspace. The "death grip" alleviated after our chat too so I figured he really had been working at it and thought no more of it. Last night we were scrolling through youtube together on his phone and the ads on his homescreen were incredibly sexual in nature- scantily clad women and sexual games. I know these ads are based on cookies, mine are currently for Christmas lights for example because I've been searching for some so I gathered he must have been accessing adult content and asked. He said he never stopped accessing porn but that it's "every other day" now. I asked how he was doing this with the new government age restrictions knowing he wouldn't be putting personal details in there, he said he uses a VPN...

I think the VPN factor has added another layer, he's gone to that extra effort to access this content. It goes beyond this though for me because it's naturally resurfaced those feelings of inadequacy. I admit we haven't been having sex as regularly as we perhaps should recently, we're both worn out with our careers and DC and with him disappearing into another room all evening, I don't really feel like jumping on him when he resurfaces. I don't have an issue with masturbation but don't see why he can't use his imagination, the porn is my issue. I suppose my overall question is what I can or should do about this? Am I right to have these feelings or should I get over myself and accept most adult men do this?

OP posts:
TheCheekyCyanHelper · 01/11/2025 19:55

BudgetWurzel · 31/10/2025 17:34

I (F) watched for a short time last year, feeling randy and demented after stopping the pill. I mean yeah my body responded for sure. It was only pornhub, no taste or what to look at. Very mainstream. I stopped pretty quick as it was so so dark.

All the violence, choking, spitting etc. Plus most seemed incest themed (what is being skirted around here)or financial exploitation themed. "Nice" girls who are desperate, single mothers or refugees and stuff. Taken down a peg or two.
Also all the made to look very young girls. Words like petite,skinny, small teens. With bunches and sport socks. 18 years is the most popular category. Some have birth certificates to show they have just turned 18. Again what is being skirted around.

It was mostly degradation and hateful. And this is just regular mainstream stuff.

If porn is made for mostly hetero males what window is this into the hell of the male mind? I read some feminist literature afterwards and wondered why men despised women! Seriously.

People often say they watch ethical porn. OK. I think that's like when people say they eat meat that's lovingly reared etc from smallholdings and the like. Well where's all the pepperoni pizza and ginsters coming from? That's not the bulk of it. Porn is like sausages, nobody wants to know how it's made! Cos they like it too much!

Anyways thought I'd put my experiences and obviously I was neutral and yeah now I know. I thought it was bad for my spirit and worried about the people in it and the wider effects.

Umm, that says a lot about what YOU were looking for.

BudgetWurzel · 01/11/2025 20:00

TheCheekyCyanHelper · 01/11/2025 19:55

Umm, that says a lot about what YOU were looking for.

Never watched previously. All a view clicks from main page. No need to lie. Think I've been more than honest.

Pryceosh1987 · 02/11/2025 01:50

Porn is hard to overcome. Excessive porn addictions can really cause alot of problems in relationships. I would say do everything less. Set goals everyday. Find a alternative which locks your mind away from the porn.

TheAlcott · 02/11/2025 10:13

If my daughter approached me and said her boyfriend was watching it and she didn’t like it then I would tell her she needs to work on her insecurities and become a bigger and better person.

You can't be serious, surely? You would actually tell your own daughter that she should ignore her instincts and boundaries in order to accommodate behaviour that upsets her in her partner? That is beyond fucked up.

Women really are our own worst enemies sometimes.

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