How online porn is ­distorting men’s image of sex and leaving women frustrated

On porn sites, violence and degrading language is the norm, consent
is rarely present and male pleasure is often the sole focus. We talk to women and the experts to find out how this is spilling over into the bedroom and making sex worse for women

Frustration: ‘Some men don’t even see a woman any more, they just see a doll that they can mindlessly have sex with’. Photo posed via Getty

Édaein O’Connell and Tara Catlett

Melanie* (32) from Co Kerry was three weeks into her new relationship when her boyfriend opened up about his porn addiction. “I was quite vocal about my own mental health struggles,” she says. “I think he assumed I had an addiction too and felt comfortable about opening up. He brought me out on a walk and explained his situation. It was definitely a shock but I wasn’t too worried about it.”

But she would discover that her ex’s porn addiction meant he could never truly be intimate with her, either physically or emotionally.