Porn Perspectives

I came across some interesting information about Middle America whilst cruising the Internet for porn statistics this weekend (y'know, how you do...).

Apparently Middle America is at home, searching the Internet for porn. Read what you will into the following lists of cities producing the most Internet searches for keywords like "sex" and "xxx" (maybe they don't utilize bookmarks as much as people in big coastal cities, or maybe people in big cities have more sophisticated searches like "slutty teen hot candle wax catfight"..or something).

In any event, here are the lists, organized by keyword. I'm including the worldwide search results as well, though I don't have much comment there. Apologies to you statisticians out there, but the best source I can offer is the meta-stats site Internet Filter Review (they clearly need to get hip to citing sources and methodology).

Top Worldwide Search Requests	Top US Cities Search Requests
1. South Africa	1.  Elmhurst, IL
2. Ireland	2.  Stockton, CA
3. New Zealand	3.  Meriden, CT
4. United Kingdom	4.  Chandler, AZ
5. Australia	5.  Louisville, KY
6. Estonia	6.  Irvine, CA
7. Norway	7.  Kansas City, KS
8. Canada	8.  Norfolk, VA
9. Croatia	9.  Tampa, FL
10. Lithuania	10. Oklahoma City, OK
1. Bolivia	1.  Elmhurst, IL
2.  Chile	2.  Meriden, CT
3.  Romania	3.  Oklahoma City, OK
4.  Ecuador	4.  Irvine, CA
5.  Pakistan	5.  Kansas City, KS
6.  Peru	6.  Tampa, FL
7.  Mexico	7.  Chandler, AZ
8.  Slovenia	8.  Norfolk, VA
9.  Lithuania	9.  Richardson, TX
10. Colombia	10. Las Vegas, NV
1.  Pakistan	1.  Elmhurst, IL
2.  India	2.  Meriden, CT
3.  Egypt	3. Kansas City, KS
4.  Turkey	4.  Louisville, KY
5.  Algeria	5.  Southfield, MI
6.  Morocco	6.  Newark, NJ
7.  Indonesia	7.  Oklahoma City, OK
8.  Vietnam	8.  Norfolk, VA
9.  Iran	9.  Irvine, CA
10. Croatia	10.  Chandler, AZ

My mortal enemy Joe Francis (founder of Girls Gone Wild) is apparently having a bad time in jail, I am pleased to report. The guards have been mean to him--they threatened to strip him naked and strap him to a chair! Can you imagine how awful it would be to have men prey on your vulnerable state and exploit your naked body for personal gain? I'm sure ol' Joe doesn't appreciate the poetic justice.

If you need a reminder as to why we all must hate Joe and GGW, click here.

If you find yourself bored in San Francisco on December 9, you can entertain yourself and feel good (very good...) about it at Club Mighty. Divas Sharon Mitchell and Nina Hartley are hosting Nude Aid, a benefit for the Center for Sex & Culture.

According to the event's website:

Here's how the Nude Aid art-making and giveaway event works: Admission to Nude Aid is $20-40 (sliding scale). This entitles each guest to watch as artists make art, live, with live nearly-nude and fetish-clad models to inspire them. Each guest can choose a piece of art to take home, and may purchase additional tickets (also $20-40) to trade for additional paintings, drawings, photos, sculptures, collages, or body prints.

This really sounds worth checking out. Attendees last year included Leonard Nimoy, Annie Sprinkle, Candye Kane, Charles Gatewood, Nina Hartley, Eric Kroll, Sharon Mitchell, Candida Royalle, Winston Smith, Jonathan Solo, Scarlot Harlot, Ruby Pearl, Madison Young, Jennifer Blowdryer, Isis Starr, Melissa Gira, Gloria Leonard, David Steinberg, Matt Sachs.

It's such sweet satisfaction to be right.

Recently-published Nielson NetRatings show that women are an increasing driver of the market for Internet porn, currently representing thirty percent of traffic to porn sites.  Enterprising women understand the potential here and are capitalizing on this growing (and sophisticated!) market segment. As I've been saying all along, it's not that women aren't interested in porn. The biggest barriers to women purchasing porn are social stigma and poor quality products. Both factors are fixable, as we are seeing with growing niches of quality porn and the anonymity of the online marketplace, and in return women are buying.

Meanwhile, true to form, the Christian Right is freaking out that so many women will join men (all of whom are porn addicts) in hell for looking at naked people online.