Women’s Social Comparisons and Sexual Competition with Porn Stars

Building on the partner’s pornography use and personal satisfaction model (3PSM), our study experimentally examined how heterosexual women’s social comparisons and feelings of sexual competition with porn stars may affect their psychological and relational well-being. A 2 (body size: thin vs. plus-size) ×2 (facial attractiveness: facially attractive vs. facially attractive) between-subjects experiment (N = 762) found that body size facilitated social comparison processes and facial attractiveness elicited feelings of sexual competition with porn stars. Specifically, among women who believed they were thinner than porn stars, thin porn stars positively affected women’s own ratings of relational satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and sexual desirability. Conversely, among women who believed they were larger than porn stars, thin porn stars negatively affected women’s own sexual desirability. Facially attractive (vs. unattractive) porn stars elicited more emotional jealousy, which in turn negatively affected psychological and relational well-being outcomes. Our findings offer insight into boundary conditions and mechanisms that explain how partner pornography use can affect intimate relationships.