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  • Marie36
    Member
    • Dec 2009
    • 28

    Fallen1-Nice! And so true! My husband and I went away for a marriage retreat once. (His idea strangely enough!) Anyway, one of the things they talked about with men was the excuse of it being "natural" to look at other women and to look at porn. They told them to think of a professional diver and how they would naturally want to hold their head one way when diving, but train themselves to hold it another way to dive correctly (sorry, I don't remember his exact words, but you get what I'm saying...lol). His point was we can train ourselves to behave differently from what might come natural to us.

    I know I naturally want to take a second look at a nice looking man, but I have trained myself to respect my husband and not do that when he is with me. In my opinion, it's disrespectful to him for me to be checking out another man while he is right next to me. I don't go out checking men out all the time or anything without him, but if he's not there, I might take a second look. But if he's there, I don't. My husband admits to the same. That proves to me, we can train ourselves to be more respectful to our partners if we choose to.

    Millania- it's hard when you're married...especially if you are happy with everything else in your marriage. I wasn't going to say anything about this, because I know how people can judge and assume things. But the truth is, my husband was addicted to porn. People will tell you that's stupid and no one is addicted to it and so on, but yes...some people can be addicted to porn just like they can be addicted to food, shopping or anything else. It doesn't have to be drugs or alcohol to be an addiction.

    Anyway, for years, I didn't get it. I just knew he kept lying about looking at porn and would delete history in our computer and so on. I too felt like I wasn't good enough for him if he needed that to get charged up for me. I would ask him about it, he would give the same excuses as all men give and I pretty much accepted it. Because I didn't know a single man who hadn't looked at porn at one point in time or another. I didn't realize how much he was looking at it until later.

    I started to check up on him and found pay per view stuff, websites on the computer and early in our marriage were phone calls to sex lines. I kept hearing how it was just a guy thing just like you. Again, I am not calling your husband an addict by any means. This is just my personal story.

    Eventually, he came to me and told me he was addicted to "women"....on Valentines day! I had no idea what that meant and thought he had been sleeping with other women or something. But then he explained that it was porn. I kind of laughed like what are you talking about? All guys look at porn. But then he explained it wasn't really a matter of just looking at porn from time to time and being done with it. It was a matter of feeling a "need" for it. I mean, he would leave work in the middle of the day to go home and watch a porn and then go back to work.

    We too had a healthy sex life at the time and according to him, SA and our marriage counselor, it wasn't about me at all. It was about him and this need that developed in him due to looking at porn from the time he was only a child. It truly became an addiction. He told me that he loved having sex with me and was very attracted to me. He said he was very satisfied with me, but at the same time, he got a different kind of satisfaction from the porn. He didn't even want to watch porn with me, because he felt that it was "his". This almost destroyed us about 7 years ago, because not only was he lying so much to me, but the more he went through SA, the more it became a constant discussion and issue in our marriage. I was just so sick of porn at that point. I didn't want to see it, hear about it...sick of it.

    Now I have male friends and am very aware that millions of men can look at porn without being addicted, but I also know that millions of men ARE addicted and that there are even some who don't deal with porn at all. Believe it or not. So that's why I feel there is no one right answer to everyone's situation. But my point is, porn can hurt marriages or relationships depending on the people and the reason for it. If a man is married to a woman or dating a woman who has a problem with him watching porn, he should be able and willing to give it up for her.....unless it IS a big deal.

    It sounds as though you are happy with everything else in your marriage, but are just unhappy with the porn issue. Is this a big enough issue to cause problems in your marriage or do you feel it's something you can get over and deal with? If it's serious enough to hurt your marriage, that should be made clear to your husband. If he still doesn't change his tune then, that should be a good indicator of an underlying issue.

    Comment

    • Fallen1
      Veteran Member
      • Oct 2007
      • 1937

      Tex, I somewhat get your trying to give an explanation ............ but then again I don't. Could be because I am just not that way. When I see what I consider to be a nice looking man I think to myself gee he's nice looking and that's the end of it, I go on about my business.

      There are different varieties of looks that I find attractive but to me my man trumps it all. To me he is the handsomest sexiest thing alive and I have to look no further to be totally satisfied.
      There is a method to my madness ........ I just haven't found it yet.

      Comment

      • Texinator
        Veteran Member
        • Sep 2009
        • 5556

        Originally posted by Fallen1
        Tex, I somewhat get your trying to give an explanation ............ but then again I don't. Could be because I am just not that way. When I see what I consider to be a nice looking man I think to myself gee he's nice looking and that's the end of it, I go on about my business.

        There are different varieties of looks that I find attractive but to me my man trumps it all. To me he is the handsomest sexiest thing alive and I have to look no further to be totally satisfied.
        Even I was confusing myself there for a minute. Maybe cause I'm single at the moment and was writing from that perspective at first, but then I realized that whenever I'm with someone I don't think I ever look at porn or oogle at other women. Not even because I've trained myself not to do it then, but rather because I don't get the urge in the first place.

        I think what you're describing is what the standard mindset should be, but then again, I guess emotions can be a much more powerful influence on the thought process of women than of men. For example, you rarely ever hear about women thinking of someone other than their boyfriend or husband while masturbating, but it's more common for men to do that.

        Comment

        • Marie36
          Member
          • Dec 2009
          • 28

          "my man trumps it all."

          I love that statement! I always felt that way about my husband...until he cheated and that whole mess began. But I look at him now and realize we must be getting better, because no man is more attractive than him in my mind again. I guess our marriage really is healing! Or I'm a complete idiot!! lol

          Comment

          • rcoreyus
            Veteran Member
            • Sep 2007
            • 4369

            Oh the endless porn debate. If for the moment I only consider the cases where porn doesn't directly affect anyone's sex life, and doesn't take significant time away. If I take the genders and specifics away, what I see is a couple "A" and "B". A has some activity they enjoy. This activity does not directly affect B, but B is upset by the activity and wants A to stop. Should A stop.

            The activity could be watching porn, or hunting, or or wearing revealing clothes, or (harmless) flirting, or going to the local neo-nazi meeting, or listening to offensive rap, or reading romance novels, any of a vast variety of things that some people find offensive.

            The usual question is does B have the right to insist that A stop?

            I think a better way to look at it is does B have the right to leave if A doesn't want to stop? The answer of course is yes - anyone can leave any relationship whenever they want for whatever reason they want.

            Does B have the right to threaten A (with leaving, withholding sexual favors, having a crying fit, throwing things, getting drunk or other behavior). I think no - I think you are free to leave a relationship whenever you want, but that threats have absolutely no place in one.

            Does this make A, or B a bad person - I feel it doesn't matter, in fact is a meaningless question. All it means it that A and B are not compatible.

            Comment

            • newhere808
              Veteran Member
              • Dec 2009
              • 541

              Originally posted by Hopeless Dork
              If my feelings don't come first to him... I've got to step up and make them come first to myself. Yes I love him. I'd be content to spend the rest of my life rubbing his feet when he gets home from work, taking care of him when he is sick and fulfilling any sexual fantasy his brain can come up with but if all of that isn't worth more than some 'just a guy thing' need to view pix of girls for excitment then nothing I do ever will be.
              Fair enough, I don't think anyone can hold that against you as your issue with him seems far more than one of simple insecurity. I apologize if I sounded like I was excusing his behavior, I wasn't, regardless of how he's doing it he's hurting you. But it is a sad truth that with guys, porn is just porn, just like some women have their obsessions that consume them.

              I hope things improve

              Comment

              • Millania
                Member
                • Dec 2009
                • 90

                Marie36-I tried to write you a private message but for some odd reason ur profile doesnt accept private messages- anyway thank you so much for sharing your story, I am amazed at how many women have dealt with this issue-and just how hurtful it can be.
                I wish I knew if my H was an addict to porn, he probably could very well be. We live with others and he looks at porn when no one is home, during the day when I am working there are usually other people at the house..but as soon as everyone leaves..he is looking at it. I believe that if we lived alone he would probably look at it everyday so I guess he could definitley be a porn addict. He has an addictive personality. He is addicted to video games, he can play for hours. ANYWAY so I dont dwell on that-I jst wanted to thank you for your story, I am so glad your husband and you were able to work things out after such a long battle with his addiction.
                to answer ur ? Marie-I am trying to just "get over it" he still pleases me sexually, and often to boot. I think I am going to try hard to just "deal with" the fact that he likes to watch videos by himself a couple times a week.
                He has stressed over and over that he loves me, thinks I am beautiful and sexy etc.
                Now the minute he starts rejecting me for sex, or the frequency completley changes, then THATS when it will become a much bigger issue and it will need to be addressed AGAIN-thx for your reply Marie

                Comment

                • Texinator
                  Veteran Member
                  • Sep 2009
                  • 5556

                  I forget the exact number, but I think someone has to have between 30 and 40 posts at least until they are able to send and receive private messages.

                  Comment

                  • WildChild
                    Banned
                    • Sep 2008
                    • 14142

                    33 is the magic number

                    Comment

                    • Marie36
                      Member
                      • Dec 2009
                      • 28

                      Ahh...that's why I can't get private messages. I'm still learning! Millania, I'm glad you have made a decision that works for both you and your husband. I hope everything works out for you. And just an fyi-believe your husband when he says he loves you and is attracted to you. Because from what I have learned, the porn (whether it be an addiction or not) really isn't about you....especially if you have as healthy of a sex life as you two do.

                      rcoreyus-I don't think it's about whether or not someone has the "right" to leave or tell their partner what to do. But more about respecting each other's feelings and concerns. And reaching a compromise that works for both of you. That's just part of being in a relationship. But I do agree there are times where A and B just may not be compatible. If one refuses to give it up (porn or anything else for that matter) and the other person can't accept that, maybe it's time to end the relationship.

                      Comment

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