Does viewing pornography affect the dreaming minds of modern men? Given that the Internet is riddled with porn, and given that dreams so often reflect our thoughts, interests and concerns, it shouldn’t be a surprise that new research suggests why yes, yes it does.
Sexual content is one of the most common themes for dreams. But contrary to expectation, sexual activity during the day does not seem to relate to higher levels of erotic dreams, according to a new study by Calvin Kai-Ching Yu, a psychologist with Hong Kong Shue Yan University. However, viewing (and masturbating to) pornography may influence the content and character of remembered erotic dreams.
Yu sampled 52 young men from Hong Kong University, and had them complete surveys on their sexual activities, dreams, and nocturnal emissions (or wet dreams). The aim was to explore how daytime sexual behavior—including viewing pornography and masturbating—correlated with specific dream themes, as well as the prevalence of wet dreams.
“To a certain extent, the content of erotic dreams mirrors daytime sexuality,” Yu concludes.
This finding is right in line with the continuity theory of dreaming. Simply put, we tend to dream about the same stuff we think about, fantasize about and actually do. And because this sample demographic included frequent pornography viewers who by and large are not having much actual sex (less than 40% reported intercourse with a partner on a monthly level), the content of porn fantasies from masturbation was visible in the subjects’ dreams.
For example, Yu found that pornography consumption was linked specifically to dreams of female-dominated sex scenes, especially those involving celebrities and female authority figures in uniform such as police officers, doctors, and, of course, female teachers. (This is a student sample group, after all).
This tit-for-tat escalation of imagery and fantasy breaks down when it comes to wet dreams, however. The habit of pornography appears to indirectly dampen nocturnal emissions in men. That is, more porn is associated with more daily releases, and a corresponding drop in wet dreams.
This link may be more familiar in the converse, much to the historically-noted dismay of those who practice total abstinence for religious reasons. Men who do not have sexual release during the day are more likely to be triggered to do so during an erotic dream. Sexual release is a biological need, and it finds a way.
Keep in mind this study is a small sample group, and also used retrospective surveys rather than an experimental design. Clearly, the associations between pornography, sexual activity, and dreams still needs further research to be, uh, teased out.
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Hi Ryan
Just read about this study. Other than the ‘obvious’ nocturnal emissions discussed here, is there any reason the study is limited to men? Women think about sex too and following the recent popularity of the ‘fifty shades’ trilogy, it is a subject that women seem happy to admit to thinking about, probably for the first time ever, in such an open and influential way, thanks to social media. I live in England and its amazing to see the book aisles in our supermarkets filled with erotic literature aimed at women, we can buy it with our groceries then tweet our friends about it!
With this in mind the below study seems a little outdated. Reading and understanding literature might involve more complex processes in the brain, than just looking at an image for instance, and this may indicate that sexual dreams could be equally prevalent in women. This is just my comment on the current trend in erotic literature aimed at women, and that the sexual dreams of women are probably worth investigating too!
Hey Kelly, you’re absolutely right. I focused on men’s dreams here simply because this small study focused on men. A follow up by this team with women’s dreams would be nice.
I bet we will see more studies about women’s sexual dreams soon. Yu and his research team, for one, are leading the field in dream sexuality. Another researcher worth watching is sexologist Franceen King, who is lifting the veil on how common (and healthy) it is for women to have sleep related orgasms. She self-published her PhD dissertation here: https://www.createspace.com/3742000
And yeah — literature sculpts the mind too! BTW I just read recently that comic books allow us to learn more quickly than either graphic pictures or word-only articles because it involves both right and left brain thinking. Apparently graphic novels are fast becoming part of elementary and middle school curricula for this reason.
From what I understand, a nocturnal emission is a physiological phenomenon, not psychological, and is not usually associated with a recalled erotic dream. Abstinence results in increased nocturnal emissions due to built-up secretions, and daytime ejaculations result in fewer nocturnal emissions, for purely physical reasons.
Conversely, from what I have read, recalled male erotic dreams most often do not result in emission. It does not seem surprising that increased pornography would result in increased erotic dreams, maybe to the point of having an orgasm, without resulting in a “wet dream”, meaning an actual ejaculation.
An orgasm is an experience of the mind, not the body, and is not necessarily related to physical evidence that an orgasm has occurred.
Anecdotally, based on reading the contents of dream journals, females have significantly more erotic dreams, especially dreams resulting in orgasm, than males do. I imagine there is much less porn-viewing by females than males (using myself as an example of a typical female), so I do not know why this would be, unless that is the reason itself–instead of using external porn, females use self-made porn.
The mind should be able to recreate any experience that the body can have, and some that the body can’t have; for example, a male should be able to have multiple orgasms in a dream, like a female can while awake, and either male or female should be able to have extended orgasms that last much longer than is possible while awake.
I’ve always had erotic dreams, but lucidity led to being able to induce and control them in very beneficial ways.
thanks Moonbeam.
your analysis fits with what the author of the study found. the key to affecting nocturnal emissions (and wet dreams) is viewing porn plus masturbation. he also found wet dreams to be lessened along with nocturnal emissions but of course you’re right that NE don’t all have corresponding remembered dreams.
as for dreams without NE, interestingly, the author of the study stops short of suggesting that porn increases erotic dreams, but rather that porn influences the content.
so porn plus masturbation has a strong effect on wet dreams and NE without remembered dreams, and a weaker effect on erotic dream content (non-wet dreams).
I would love to see more studies of women’s erotic dreams. talk about taboo-busting!
I think that the important part is that every experience occurs in the mind. The mind can experience much more than the physical is capable of, and all that the mind can experience is possible in dreams. 🙂
Lmao I love that you included the Jeff Goldblum quote, bravo