Male pornography users demonstrated significantly lower sexual function and satisfaction than female users while women showed greater psychological distress despite lower engagement, revealing a paradox in gender-specific associations between pornography use and sexual health outcomes.
Male pornography users showed significantly lower sexual function compared to female pornography users.
Male pornography users reported significantly lower sexual satisfaction than female pornography users.
Male pornography users reported higher rates of sexual dysfunction compared to female pornography users.
Women pornography users exhibited slightly higher psychological distress than male pornography users despite lower levels of pornography engagement.
Significant gender differences were found in masturbation frequency, with men reporting markedly higher rates than women.
The meta-analysis was characterized by high heterogeneity, reliance on self-reported measures, and limited longitudinal evidence, restricting causal inference.
This study represents the first meta-analytic synthesis specifically examining gender-specific pornography-related sexual health outcomes.
This research synthesized data from 21 studies involving over 138,000 people to examine how pornography use is differently associated with sexual health in men and women. The researchers found that men who use pornography reported worse sexual functioning, lower sexual satisfaction, and higher rates of sexual dysfunction compared to women who use pornography. At the same time, despite using pornography less frequently and less often, women reported more psychological distress associated with pornography use than men did. Men also reported masturbating significantly more often than women. These findings suggest that the relationship between pornography use and wellbeing is not straightforward and differs meaningfully between genders. The study highlights what the authors call a paradox: men, who tend to use pornography more, experience more negative effects on their physical sexual functioning, while women experience more emotional and psychological strain even though they engage with pornography less. This could reflect differences in how men and women relate to pornography, societal attitudes, or underlying psychological factors. The authors argue that these findings call for gender-sensitive approaches in both sexual health research and clinical care. This research suggests that one-size-fits-all approaches to discussing pornography's effects on sexual health may be inadequate. However, important limitations mean the findings should be interpreted cautiously: the studies relied on self-reported data (which can be inaccurate or biased), there was high variability across the included studies, and most evidence comes from cross-sectional snapshots rather than long-term follow-up, so it is not possible to determine whether pornography use causes these outcomes or whether people with certain characteristics are simply more likely to use pornography. Further longitudinal research is needed to better understand these relationships.
Laleh S, Yıldız Karaahmet A. (2026). Gender differences in pornography use and sexual health outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.. The journal of sexual medicine. https://doi.org/10.1093/jsxmed/qdag021