Watching porn is often seen as a taboo subject, but it’s a practice that millions of people do every day.
While most people wouldn’t be too phased if their partner watched porn, it seems that some young adults would see this as cheating .
A recent study by researchers from the University of Central Florida found that one in eight young adults thinks watching porn is a form of cheating.
In the study, 392 US college students were asked about their sexual attitudes and preferences.
In particular, participants were asked to rate their agreement with two statements - ‘I would consider my viewing of sexually-explicit material by myself to be cheating on my romantic partner,’ and ‘I would consider my romantic partner’s viewing of sexually-explicit material by him- or herself to be cheating on me.’
While the majority of participants (73%) didn’t think watching porn should be seen as cheating, 14% were unsure, and 13% said it definitely was cheating.
Delving deeper into the results, the researchers found several traits in the people who saw watching porn as cheating.
These included being single, not being a porn consumer, having negative attitudes towards porn, being religious and having jealous tendencies.
Sex psychologist, Dr Justin Lehmiller, wrote about the findings on his blog .
He said: “What all of this tells us is that, for the most part, American college students don’t seem to classify viewing pornography as a form of infidelity; however, about 1 in 8 of them do.
“Furthermore, it seems that there are certain types of people who are more inclined to think of porn use as cheating, particularly those who view porn negatively to begin with, those who hold more conservative beliefs generally, and those who are more insecure and prone to jealousy.”
