Americans may paint themselves in increasingly bright shades of red and blue, but new research finds one thing that varies little across the nation: the liking for online pornography.

There are some trends to be seen in the data. Those states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption, the study finds.

“Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very things they claimed to be outraged by,” Edelman says…

After controlling for differences in broadband internet access between states – online porn tends to be a bandwidth hog – and adjusting for population, he found a relatively small difference between states with the most adult purchases and those with the fewest…

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.

Church-goers bought less online porn on Sundays – a 1% increase in a postal code’s religious attendance was associated with a 0.1% drop in subscriptions that day. However, expenditures on other days of the week brought them in line with the rest of the country, Edelman finds.

Residents of 27 states that passed laws banning gay marriages boasted 11% more porn subscribers than states that don’t explicitly restrict gay marriage.

Could it be, could it be…that hypocrisy was perfected by conservatives and christians?

Thanks, Mr. Justin




  1. The Master Fisherman says:

    Another weak attempt to knock the right by failed editors. God, it is just too damned easy to beat on these newbs.

  2. bobbo says:

    More likely that in states with that slightly more religious/conservative bent, the outlets for normal sexual expression or more limited hence driving a few of the religious types, but a whole lot of less religious types in those states, into on-line porn.

    Its the danger of thinking things are monolithic rather than breaking down the relevant subgroups.

    You do know there are no monoliths?

  3. jccalhoun says:

    This study is being reported totally wrong. It does not say that people in the “red” states view more porn but that they PAY for more porn. It could easily be the case that people in “blue” states are more tech savvy and know how to get their porn for free.

  4. orangetiki says:

    Maybe they are just not as smart as some in the blue states who can find free porn online?

  5. Somebody_Else says:

    Odd artwork for this article.

    Off topic, but one of the nice things about the Boy Scouts is that its a very decentralized program. No matter how right-wing-crazy and homophobic they get up at the national leadership level most local units really don’t care about the religious views or sexuality of their members.

    As for the story, the porn thing doesn’t surprise me at all. “Conservative” is almost synonymous with “hypocrite.”

  6. Hyph3n says:

    If you live in Utah, the ONLY place you’re going to get your porn is online. You even have to buy beer from a cop in that state.

  7. QB says:

    1. Correlation doesn’t imply causality. Only an anti-scientific religious type would make that mistake.
    2. A simpler explanation is that religious conservatives live in rural areas so they have to go to the net for their porn. Liberals live in urban environments so they are more “hands on” buyers.
    3. As I said yesterday, I appreciate conservatives stimulating the economy through support of the porn industry.

  8. Li says:

    What is the source of that poster? I mean the original source, before they put that ridiculous text on top of it? ‘Cause that’s some messed up freudian imagery there, even without the later addition of the text.

  9. Duger says:

    The artwork was originally composed for Liberty Bonds sales during World War I in the USA.

    Here’s the original: http://tinyurl.com/bqxu2t

  10. god says:

    The real fun about the research > article > post > is how easy it is to give the theocratic politicos a metaphoric wedgie over their hypocrisy.

    They know it’s true. Which provides another opportunity to be hypocrites.

  11. QB says:

    Amen god

  12. John E. Quantum says:

    Pay for porn? People really pay for porn?

  13. Dallas says:

    Really, the holier than thou are hypocrites?

    I knew that before Metallica put out an Album on it.


    Who are you? where ya been? where ya from?
    Gossip is burning on the tip of your tongue
    You lie so much you believe yourself
    Judge not lest ye be judged yourself

    Holier than thou
    You are
    Holier than thou
    You are

  14. sargasso says:

    I wonder; are they The Horny Devout, or The Repentant Voyeurs?

  15. #2 – Bobbolina

    >>More likely that in states with that slightly
    >>more religious/conservative bent, the outlets
    >>for normal sexual expression or more limited
    >>hence driving a few of the religious types,
    >>but a whole lot of less religious types in
    >>those states, into on-line porn.

    I think you’ve got a shot at taking the Bulwer-Lytton prize this year, Mista Bobbolina!

    That sentence of yours gives “It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents–except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.” a good run for its money!!

    Enter!

  16. The Pig says:

    There is probably a correlation between porn and pork too. The states with the highest porn consumption are probably the ones with the highest pork consumption (BBQ startin’ to tingle you?)

    In a good segue,

    The pig is the most virile animal in the kingdom. There are more sperm in the average male ejaculation in the pig than in any other animal including man.

    I think this is why Islam and Judaism ban pork.

  17. BubbaRay says:

    #15, Mr. Mustard,

    Goodness me, I may not stop laughing for 30 minutes! The image that forgotten “prose” conjures may be tantamount to watching the 3 Stooges at their best. 🙂

  18. MikeN says:

    Give him whatever prose prizes you want, but Bobbo’s analysis beats the editors again.

    Now a survey of individuals has shown that Democrats view porn 60% more than Republicans(not solid but certainly more solid than the logic here).

  19. CDRaff says:

    This is the liberal/conservative version of my daddy can beat up your daddy. Grow up.

  20. RBG says:

    Must be difficult to repress a billion years of innate sexual drive en route to being civilized. Just ask a rapist.

    RBG

  21. Billy Bob says:

    I guarantee you that they started from a desired result and then tortured the “broadband access magic number manipulator fun factor” to get the result they wanted. Broadband access is much more prevalent in urban centers (blue states), so they most likely discounted that by some BS % in order to get the “per capita” answer they were looking for. In fact, I’ll bet you that the unfudged per capita in fact shows that urban centers buy more porn simply because of the technology advantage.

    I’m so sick of BS passing as science.

  22. GregA says:

    #21

    Broadband access had nothing to do with it. He had credit card data that was keyed on porn purchases. It was measured by purchases per 1000 people.

    The report is absolutely conclusive, republicans are more pervy than democrats…

    It is by enough in a few states that if the republican party were to simply actively court perverts, they could swing elections.

    Another take is that if Sarah Palin had simply done the Hustler photo shoot, she could be vice president. Republicans do have a thing for wife swapping it seems…

  23. brm says:

    It’s only hypocrisy if the peeps railing against porn are exactly the ones looking at it.

    People might be more extreme, no matter what the behavior, in these states.

    This is more of a Work Hard / Play Hard sitch, imo.

  24. jbenson2 says:

    The Top Pornography Consuming States?

    How about addressing the Top Pornography Producing States:

    California has to be #1.

  25. deowll says:

    It was perfected before the first human walked in North America and is practiced by the living.

    Those who like to point fingers at others like the person who posted the article are true masters of it.

  26. QB says:

    jbenson2, you wouldn’t want tan lines, would you?

  27. soundwash says:

    another useless waste of media space..

    when you create a taboo, (esp religious taboo) you can bank on the the thrill seekers hunting it down with a vengeance..

    the act of banning anything promotes its use even more and usually fosters a thriving black market. -porn is no exception.

    porn in the US is strictly a tool to sell copy, buy feel-good votes, infringe on peoples privacy, give the priest in the confession box material to abuse his alter boys with, hide completely unrelated “zinger” laws within the bill, -and ofc, -remove a politician/DA from office who’s investigation starts infringing on your federal money making/laundering scam. (compliments of the fbi, no doubt)

    oh, and of course, feed the needs of normal people who need a little *incentive* to get the juices flowing…

    case in point on zinhers..

    a Bill (HR 1076) recently introduced in the house, will require just about *anyone* who provides internet access to a third party via DHCP to keep two years of IP and access logs. (up from 90days),

    it also changes prior language so that anyone found guilty will face the possibility of LIFE in prison. (up from 10 to 30 years)

    the abuse/blackmail potential of this by corrupted individuals on both sides of the Law alone is immeasurable. -if it passes.

    so this means anyone who happens to share their WiFi router or provides an access point with mates, or the neighborhood (which many do without even knowing it) will be defined as service providers and be bound to this law/provision.

    -somebody piggybacks on your router and does the kiddy porn thing, your life becomes will become infinitely more expensive and complicated.

    but wait..what’s a bill without some mystery meat? lets add some completely unrelated RICO language just for fun..

    —snip—
    “ADDITIONAL RICO PREDICATES.

    Section 1961(1) of title 18, United States Code, is amended–

    (1) by inserting ‘section 641 (relating to embezzlement or theft of public money, property, or records,’ after ‘473 (relating to counterfeiting),’; and

    (2) by inserting ‘section 666 (relating to theft or bribery concerning programs receiving Federal funds),’ after ‘section 664 (relating to embezzlement from pension and welfare funds),’
    —-snip—

    what spam is this?
    -i bet they shove this bill in front of some pro internet-porn-law senator they know has been ripping off a Fed program and/or [gasp] running a child-porn racket and tell him, “ok, here’s your Bill, -your move”

    yup, Change we can believe in..

    (all joking aside:
    scream NO to your local senator on HR 1076:

    http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-1076

    -s

    a bargaining chip?..garunteed fail/pass.? -or is this a subtle way of hinting that the biggest child porn rings are are funded by the high level government officials who have ripped off tax-payers and federal

    rip off tax payers and federal programs

  28. Mr Diesel says:

    #29 GetSmart

    Oh yeah, you got that right. Who the hell could watch a Buhkake video…….

    If the conservatives are paying for it maybe they need to look at pornotube.com as it is better than youtube.

  29. bobbo says:

    #15–Mustard==hope your reduced activity means you found better things to do. Sante.

    #22–GregA==I didn’t read the article because the subject bores me======studies about correlations and such. Some state goes 51/49 for Kerry and at a rate of 51 vs 49 visits certain websites (hits or discreet viewers) and so that means xyz.

    #1==I don’t buy it. #2==Don’t care anyway.

    Conclusion: Just trying to remind people not to think in terms of labels. We all do it all the time and we all need to do it less.

  30. billabong says:

    I’m shocked! shocked! that people masturbate in this country.


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