Maya, hi,
I am only sorry that I have to welcome you to the forum on such an anxious and troubled question from you; I truly hope that from all the advice you receive here, you can decide which way to go forward on this one - it is obviously something of great significance for you, and I can almost feel your feeling of 'not knowing which way to turn.
The only point that I can't remember seeing in the other people's reply to you is in reply to the sentence: "He doesn't seem to think it is harmful because he doesn't watch it, but he refuses to throw it out." - somehow, for me, that doesn't seem to 'gel'.......
I think you have been given good advice by one or two, in that, to throw away the porn behind your husband's back would only make him feel angry - knowing human nature, even if it did not matter to him that much, your throwing it away without his permission might just make this become a whole greater issue of his trust in you.
I fully understand the way you feel; the questions Robtex suggests that you tackle are all good ones, and I think that you really ought (for both your sakes) to get to the 'core' of this problem; maybe it is a symptom of something that he feels there is lacking in your marriage.
You say that you are praying to God to help your husband overcome the addiction - that is laudable, but the need to get rid of the porn must be a conscious "I want to get rid of it" in your husband's mind; without that, he might well start again, and find a hiding place for it in the house, away from your eyes........
There are so many possibilities as to why your husband feels the need for this, and some may even be subconscious; the real reason he needs this outlet may be tied to something in his past.
I personally know of one case where a man was resorting to porn after having been present at their child's birth; the guilt of his wife's 'sufferring' such pain at the birth of their child was too much foor him to bear, and he started looking to satisfy his needs by looking at pornography - there are so many possibilities.
I truly hope you can talk to him about it; not in a confrontational manner, but by following these principles in your discussion to him:-
1. Describe to him what is bothering you
2.Express your feelings about the subject; try to use phrases like "It weould make me so happy if you........" rather than "You should get rid., or "I need...."
3.Asser yourself; even though it sounds obvious, he needs to know
why it upsets you so much
4.Reinforce; show him what he has to gain by throwing away this stuff; that you will feel far more relaxed and happy, and that that will improve your relationship.
5.Be Mindful; stay on the subject - if he comes in with a "Well you do this and I don't like it." tell him "OK, we'll talk about that after, for now, please give me my time"- too many discussions like this get distracted into all kinds of blind alleys.
6.Appear confident; this is something that bothers you - you do not like it, and you don't see why you should have to put up with it,
7. Be prepared to negotiate - ie if there is something you husband comes up with which annoys him, that you do, offer to make an effort to change that, in yourself as a compromise.
Be gentle - there is a difference in being masterful and needing to be angy because that is the only way to deal with this. Try not to threaten him "I'll leave you if you don't chuck this stuff out......". Try not to moralize (I kbow that this sounds strange in this case), but try not to use phrases like "It's horrible, smutty, agains God's wishes....etc." - You don't want it in the house because IT MAKES YOU SAD to have this in the house.
Validate him. ie " I understand that you may not see it my way, and that for you it is a 'nothing' - I don't suppose you realize how much this affects me; if there is something lacking in our relationship - tell me, and we can work for a common goal...............
Well, that was a short intro!
Now to business; You might like to have a look at :-
Articles for New Members ; from there, there is a link to the forum rules, which you ought to see.
I truly hope you can resolve this; Since you are praying, I know that you believe in some deity - you don't mention your religion on your profile - but I will pray for you, that you may have the wisdom and the ability to solve this without much angst.
God Bless,
Michel
