Who watches porn? Well, hopefully you don't have any family reunions coming up, because I have to break it to you: your grandpa loves porn. Probably. I mean, statistically. A new study by Tim Rollins of Stop Procrastinating looked at 2,000 men that were 50 or older and found out they are using as much incognito browsing as the rest of us. They weren't shy about how it made them feel, as Rollins says to The Daily Dot: "The survey was anonymous so [participants] could be as candid as they wished. I guess the older one gets, the less worried one is about being candid." But that's not to say that they were flippant about the porn watching at all. In fact, they seemed to have as many, or even more, concerns about the morality and the effects of watching porn.
Rollins says, "They felt like this because [porn] turns women into sexual objects and can degrade relationships between men and women. ... [It can destroy] normal pleasurable sexual experience. Men using porn too much could objectify women more, which means they have less meaningful relationships with them." Obviously this can happen at ay age, not just with older people, which made me even more nervous about his next point: "Research shows there is a problem when it comes compulsive and when the men (or women) take longer and longer to orgasm and need to view different material to get there."
What else did we learn about porn and the older generation?
1. The Internet Means More Porn
Eighty-two percent says their porn consumption increased after the internet, so apparently some older folks are more internet savvy than I was giving them credit for (and it makes me so, so grateful my grandfather couldn't write an email without using all caps).
2. And Without It, Most Would Avoid Porn Altogether
When talking specifically to the 60 and older crowd, 76 percent of people that replied said that if they had to go out and buy pornography in public, they wouldn't do it. Although that's obviously just hypothetical, and I feel like a lot of people might say "Oh I would never go out and get it, but it's right here...", but in reality if they couldn't find it on the internet would make the trek to the sketchy but kindly corner shop man for some nude-y mags. Maybe that's just me.
3. There's A Lot Of Guilt
Fifty-eight percent thought that porn was straight up wrong, and 45 percent reported feeling guilt in relation to porn viewing. But, as with the rest of us, there seemed to be a lot of ambivalence because guilt or not agreeing with it didn't corresponding with not watching it. Don't worry, Gramps!
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