Boyfriend Watching Porn In A Long Term Relationship.
My boyfriend and I are in our mid-twenties and have been together for almost five years. During the second year in our relationship, I walked in on him masturbating to video pornography. Up until that time, I had genuinely thought that explicit video pornography was reserved for sexual deviants and not something that the average person uses. Hence, when it happened I didn't know how to respond and put the whole thing out of my mind.
Since then, I genuinely hadn't given the issue any thought until a couple of months ago when I saw my boyfriend's computer on the bed next to a box of tissues. When I flipped up the screen there was a POV pornographic video of a woman pretending to give him a blow job. At which point he walked over and closed the computer. I tried to talk about it then but he didn't want to. A couple weeks later when I used the computer another pornographic website was in the url bar. At that point, I decided to snoop (wrong, I know) and have since found a stash of pornography on his computer and external hard drive. He also seems to regularly visit websites.
I have always found pornography offensive and now that my boyfriend is regularly using it, I feel hurt and disgusted by it. From the dates on his files, he has been consistently downloading pornography throughout our relationship. What's more is that I have often felt sexually neglected by him, having to practically beg for that kind of attention and frequently getting turned down. Until now, I have never been angry with him because I loved him and I didn't want my concerns to cause him to feel inadequate, less masculine, etc. I would be upset about the porn anyway, but now that I know he has always regularly used it, I’m starting to wonder if this isn’t reducing his interested in me and that is making me somewhat angry about our sex life.
At any rate, I explained my feelings to him, making sure not to attack or pressure, and he agreed, without me asking, to no longer use video porn. To support him, I gave him a Playboy (I don't mind pictures, only the videos because the videos are so explicit). However, I was on his computer last week and saw that he had been searching for more porn. He claims not to have but everything is dated. I have been to a multitude of discussion boards and advice websites, and consulted some friends, but cannot seem to decide how to feel or approach the issue. Much of what I have read says that I need to just accept his use of porn, however, I think that this sad. Women should not be told they have to accept men who feel like their girlfriend's/wife's feelings matter less than their 'masturbation enhancers.' Perhaps I am living in the wrong time (either too early or too late, who’s to say which was or will be better) to expect such respect but I think it is entirely fair.
I want this relationship to work (we are actually discussing marriage) but I don’t want to accept the video pornography. Your perspective?