The Cosmo Porn Survey is Actually Pretty Interesting

LOS ANGELES—Okay, so this is hardly the first large-scale survey about attitudes about and interaction with porn, and it certainly won't be the last, but Cosmopolitan's latest, which they've published as, of course, a long infographic, is one of the best we've seen in a while, containing answers we found to be pretty revealing about how people probably really feel about porn. What we really liked about this survey was its focus on how the respondents watch porn, and also what they feel about their partners' porn watching. After all, one of the basic issues with porn is the extent to which it interferes with ongoing or potential relationships. Anti-porners would have you believe that the vast majority of women in America are fit to be tied (no, not tied up) about the extent to which "their men" are off slavering over hot porn chicks while ignoring the nagging hag in the bedroom. But if the results of this survey—which involved 4,000 women and 4,000 men!—indicate anything about the population at large, it is that most women could basically care less, assuming that is that they are not being ignored. In fact, when asked how they think their partner's porn habit should change once they begin dating, 68.3 percent of the women, said, "I don't care as long as it doesn't get in the way of us." 14.1 percent added to that, responding, "We watch porn together." Only 4.6 percent replied, "They should stop watching porn. Cold turkey," though 13 percent weighed in that, "They can watch porn when we're in different zip codes." All told, those answers indicate a surprisingly liberal attitude toward mates or dates watching porn. But as interesting, if believed, was the response by men when asked what they would do if their partner wanted them to stop watching porn. 43.2 percent said, "I'd stop." But an almost equal number, 37.9 percent, said they would sneak watching it, while 18.9 replied, "I wouldn't stop." It's probably a good thing, then, that a very small percentage of women are asking their mates to actually go cold turkey. The survey also reveals that some commonly assumed differences between the sexes regarding porn do actually exist, including observations made by women about the porn-viewing habits of man. In that regard, the 57.7 percent of women who said they think men watch porn too often feels spot on, though it also means that a significant percentage of those women are not actually asking men to stop, a reflection, one assumes, of their acceptance of men as being hopelessly visually stimulated. The colorful infographic is chock full of other questions having to do with kinky porn, same-sex porn, MILF porn and other fascinating aspects of a subject that never seems to lose its interest. Look at the entire Cosmopolitan "This is How You Watch Porn" Infographic here.