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What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

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Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#21

Post by infogulch »

js2 wrote: post #14
dragonwriter wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Doesn't show autocomplete” doesn't mean “doesn't collect data”.

The article indicates that he has data from both pornhub and google. The interview questions jump between the two, but the questions about porn are mostly based on the pornhub data. One thing I'm curious about is that the article implies he has demographic information (sex, income, etc) about the searchers and I don't know how google/pornhub would know that. I would imagine the majority of searches are anonymous exce…

To be fair, "whatever the browser gives up" more than enough to reliably identify people.

Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#22

Post by dkla1120 »

> "Stephens-Davidowitz’s data suggests that there are more gay men in the closet than we think..."

> "...that a lot of straight women watch lesbian porn"

Why not a lot straight men that watch gay porn, and more lesbian woman in the closet than you would think?

Or just people who are hyper-sexual?

I'd be interested in understanding the methods used to determine the difference between homosexuality and hyper-sexuality, and simply curious.

But I feel that both of those original statements evoke certain stereotypes, which makes me wonder what biases were applied to the study.

Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#23

Post by TeMPOraL »

look_lookatme wrote: post #8

> I think porn is a pretty good measure of people’s sexual fantasies, even if they never act on them. I like watching Jason Bourne movies but that doesn't mean I have a fantasy of being a chronically embattled amnesiac clandestine operator engaged in half a dozen or so protracted car chases a week.

Different people have different criteria for their entertainment choices. Some just go for e.g. comedy value. Others seek something that resonates with them.

Since you started with movie anecdata - while I'm not particularly fond of Bourne movies, I watch similar works and it is, in part, reflection of my fantasy of being an exceptionally skilled operative solving actually meaningful problems (as opposed to dealing with everyday real-life bullshit).

Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#24

Post by alex_anglin »

Mz wrote: post #20
passivepinetree wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What source do you have for "most porn is consumed as a substitute for sex with a partner?" That seems like a pretty big assertion and I'm inclined to disagree, but I'd like to hear your argument/reasoning/sources.

I did preface it with "As I understand it." If you have a study or something that says otherwise, feel free to link it. That is my general impression as a human being who reads stuff online and talks to people and has had a sex life. (Edit: And spent 3.5 years in therapy for childhood sexual abuse and read a TON of books and articles on the subject because of it and, thus, tends to attract weird conversations from al…

Do the people you talk to discuss their porn habits? I'd venture to say that much is unknown, beyond sources such as google searches, about most societies porn habits as it's a taboo topic of discussion and research.

Your comments paint with a very broad brush. A counter argument would come in the cases [1][2] of studies that had to be abandoned because of a lack of participants who did not consume it.

[1] http://www.upi.com/Study-stymied-by-lack-of-porn-newbies/401... [2] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2261377/Porn-study-s...

Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#26

Post by int_19h »

Mz wrote: post #13

I am reminded of discussions about how "credit card companies will soon know exactly what we all eat and be able to predict our health because of it" where people rebutted that with "I pay cash for most of my produce at the local farmer's market." There are people who aren't into porn at all. Porn watching tells you something about people who watch porn. It may tell you nothing at all about actual sex lives. As I und…

> As I understand it, most porn is consumed alone, as a substitute for sex with a partner.

That is not actually the case. People in relationships watch porn a lot, and sometimes they even do it together.

Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#27

Post by js2 »

infogulch wrote: post #21
js2 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article indicates that he has data from both pornhub and google. The interview questions jump between the two, but the questions about porn are mostly based on the pornhub data. One thing I'm curious about is that the article implies he has demographic information (sex, income, etc) about the searchers and I don't know how google/pornhub would know that. I would imagine the majority of searches are anonymous exce…

To be fair, "whatever the browser gives up" more than enough to reliably identify people.

I work at Yahoo (er, Verizon). We absolutely do not correlate logged-in and logged-out data. I am going to assume the same for Google.

Regardless, based on things like OS and IP, I understand how you could infer, say, an income range from that, but how precise could it be?

But even assuming google/pornhub has identified me based on my browser fingerprint, how do they know my income level? I've never given that info to Google, nor filled it out on any surveys, warranty cards, etc that I can recall. Maybe I'm not typical and people freely give up this information?

Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#28

Post by Mz »

int_19h wrote: post #26
Mz wrote: post #13

I am reminded of discussions about how "credit card companies will soon know exactly what we all eat and be able to predict our health because of it" where people rebutted that with "I pay cash for most of my produce at the local farmer's market." There are people who aren't into porn at all. Porn watching tells you something about people who watch porn. It may tell you nothing at all about actual sex lives. As I und…

> As I understand it, most porn is consumed alone, as a substitute for sex with a partner. That is not actually the case. People in relationships watch porn a lot, and sometimes they even do it together.

Your reply makes little sense. Consuming porn alone does not mean you are not in a relationship. "Sometimes they even do it together" is a weird way to end a suggestion that people are mostly not consuming porn alone. Are they or are they not mostly (more than half the time) consuming it together?

Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#29

Post by theWatcher37 »

imron wrote: post #15
sergiotapia wrote: post #4

>For example, I am certain a large number of men are more attracted to overweight women than skinny women but try to date skinny women to impress their friends and family members. That's quite a leap there Seth Stephens-Davidowitz.

Classic projection.

Exactly. Clearly trying to justify his fetish.

Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#30

Post by Spooky23 »

This makes Freakonomics sound like Nobel material. Completely vacuous.

He uses the comparison that most men are looking to date skinny women, but that many men are "afraid" to act on their attraction to overweight women.

Yet... nearly 40% of women are considered obese. About half are married or otherwise attached. Who is to say that the population of online daters strongly correlates with these terrified men?

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