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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

#31

Post by lugg »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #23
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…

Yes, but did you apply to spy school?

Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#32

Post by Mz »

alex_anglin wrote: post #24
Mz wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Do the people you talk to discuss their porn habits?

In some cases, yes.

studies that had to be abandoned because of a lack of participants who did not consume it.

Given that my original assertion is that some people are not consumers of porn, your "rebuttal" seems rather strange.

Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#33

Post by adjkant »

passivepinetree wrote: post #19
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…

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.

If you're inclined to disagree, how do you see it being consumed? As far as I know from my own experience, the vast majority of porn is consumed alone. I took that to be equivalent with the quoted section because I'm guessing most watching porn would also prefer sex with someone. It seems like your point is semantics to me unless you do truly believe that most porn is not consumed alone, in which case I'm really interested why you think that.

Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#35

Post by xxSparkleSxx »

alex_anglin wrote: post #24
Mz wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>Do the people you talk to discuss their porn habits?

I talk to friends about porn habits, have shared good links with friends before too. The reason I am inclined to believe that most porn is consumed alone is that in my anecdotal experience people broach the subject of watching porn with their SO as though it's a bit taboo, though they will freely admit to watching it alone. And in my own experiences, 99.9% of porn I have consumed has been on my own with only .1% consumed with a partner.

Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#37

Post by majani »

cthulhua wrote: post #9
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.

Maybe not that, but I bet a lot of Bourne/Bond/? fans think super-competent badasses are cool.

That was his point. You can just watch something edgy cause you think it's cool, not cause you want to experience it in real life.

Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#38

Post by a1371 »

I find it hard to accept his conclusions. For example this:

> Porn featuring overweight women is surprisingly common among men. But the data from dating sites tells us that just about all men try to date skinny women. Many people don’t try to date the people they’re most attracted to.

Porn is a fantasy land. Many people find these stuff attractive because they are far away from their ordinary lives. Looking at the top views of the porn sites you can see strange titles like "Step-daughter punished by angry dad". What does this tell you? Can you really interpret the titles as what people want to do?

Same goes for overweight women. Some of the interest in watching those videos could even come out of hate.

Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#39

Post by TeMPOraL »

lugg wrote: post #31
TeMPOraL wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Yes, but did you apply to spy school?

>>> even if they never act on them

That said, I didn't apply to a spy school - but does reading up on situational awareness books and articles after binge-watching some spy/action TV series count?

Re: What Google searches for porn tell us about ourselves

#40

Post by mythrwy »

sidlls wrote: post #25

This isn't very convincing. The conclusions rely on at least two assumptions that aren't well supported * That these searches are a proxy for honest expression of a sexual desire * That these searches are by the cohorts purported

And that interests of people searching for porn are representative of the general population.

Agree. Not convinced (although the data is interesting).

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