Utah #1 in porn consumption
I found a fascinating article today that said that people from conservative states (ie "red states") are more likely to buy porn online, and that Utah was #1 in online porn consumption:
The biggest consumer, Utah, averaged 5.47 adult content subscriptions per 1000 home broadband users; Montana bought the least with 1.92 per 1000. "The differences here are not so stark," Edelman says.
Number 10 on the list was West Virginia at 2.94 subscriptions per 1000, while number 41, Michigan, averaged 2.32.
Eight of the top 10 pornography consuming states gave their electoral votes to John McCain in last year's presidential election - Florida and Hawaii were the exceptions. While six out of the lowest 10 favoured Barack Obama.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16680-porn-in-the-usa-conservatives-are-biggest-consumers.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
Any thoughts about this? My first reaction was that people who live in more conservative states would have a more difficult time finding pornographic magazines at their local drug store, so they end up buying their porn online instead. But is it really that simple? (I mean, do people actually buy pornography at bricks and mortar stores these days? Seems to me that buying it online would be easier and less embarrassing even if one lives in a very liberal area. I mean, I guess Utah probably has less strip clubs per capita than most states, but that still seems like it can't be the whole story.) Is there another way to interpret this data other than saying that we are all a bunch of hypocrites? Is there some kind of "forbidden fruit" effect going on here- by constantly hearing how it is evil, people end up wanting it even more? Is this evidence that we are wiling to do things we are not supposed to when we know that nobody is watching? I'm trying to find the most charitable possible explanation for these numbers, but that was a bit disturbing to read. (In fairness, the authors of the study said that there was relatively little variation from state to state, and the fact that Utah was #1 may have been a statistical fluke. But even if that's the case, I still find it odd that Utah is above average at all.)
The biggest consumer, Utah, averaged 5.47 adult content subscriptions per 1000 home broadband users; Montana bought the least with 1.92 per 1000. "The differences here are not so stark," Edelman says.
Number 10 on the list was West Virginia at 2.94 subscriptions per 1000, while number 41, Michigan, averaged 2.32.
Eight of the top 10 pornography consuming states gave their electoral votes to John McCain in last year's presidential election - Florida and Hawaii were the exceptions. While six out of the lowest 10 favoured Barack Obama.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16680-porn-in-the-usa-conservatives-are-biggest-consumers.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
Any thoughts about this? My first reaction was that people who live in more conservative states would have a more difficult time finding pornographic magazines at their local drug store, so they end up buying their porn online instead. But is it really that simple? (I mean, do people actually buy pornography at bricks and mortar stores these days? Seems to me that buying it online would be easier and less embarrassing even if one lives in a very liberal area. I mean, I guess Utah probably has less strip clubs per capita than most states, but that still seems like it can't be the whole story.) Is there another way to interpret this data other than saying that we are all a bunch of hypocrites? Is there some kind of "forbidden fruit" effect going on here- by constantly hearing how it is evil, people end up wanting it even more? Is this evidence that we are wiling to do things we are not supposed to when we know that nobody is watching? I'm trying to find the most charitable possible explanation for these numbers, but that was a bit disturbing to read. (In fairness, the authors of the study said that there was relatively little variation from state to state, and the fact that Utah was #1 may have been a statistical fluke. But even if that's the case, I still find it odd that Utah is above average at all.)