DOES WATCHING PORN FUEL EATING DISORDERS?

• Position: YOUR LIFE - Brief article

A woman whose boyfriend or husband watches pornography regularly is more likely to report symptoms of an eating disorder, suggests a study from Ohio State University, which is one of the first to look at how a romantic partner's behavior might be linked to the likelihood of a woman experiencing or engaging in such things as extreme guilt about eating, preoccupation with body fat, binging, or purging.

In addition to finding an association between a partner's porn habits and eating disorder symptoms, the research also found a higher incidence of those symptoms in women who say they feel pressure from their boyfriends or husbands to be thin.

"We often talk about the influences of media, family, and friends on eating disorders, but little has been done to determine how a partner's influence might contribute to a woman's disordered eating," notes Tracy Tylka, professor of psychology on the Columbus and Marion campuses. "It's a gap in the research and, if certain partner variables are risk factors, we should be giving...