Study: Women as Likely to Be Addicted to Porn as Men

A German study was recently published in the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking journal that stated women show the same symptoms of pornography addiction as men (Dwyer, 2014).

The study examined 102 women, half of whom self-identified as users of internet porn and half of whom identified as nonusers. Researchers assessed the level of addiction by studying the level of arousal and cravings for sex after showing the women one hundred pornographic photos (Dwyer, 2014).

According to Professor Matthias Brand from the Duisberg-Essen University in Germany, “Results indicated porn users rated pornographic pictures as more arousing and reported greater craving due to pornographic picture presentation compared with nonusers” (Perry, 2014).

Ultimately, the behavior patterns found in women who were identified as “hypersexual”—that is, women who engaged in heavy pornography use and spent an excessive amount of time engaging in sexual fantasy or planning sexual behavior—were the same patterns found in men.

References

Dwyer, S. (2014). Women can be as addicted to porn as men. The Fix. Retrieved from http://www.thefix.com/content/women-can-be-addicted-porn-men

Perry, K. (2014). Sex: Women ‘just as easily hooked on online porn as men.’ The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/11016874/Sex-Women-just-as-easily-hooked-on-online-porn-as-men.html