Tuesday, April 20, 2010

This was something too good not to post:

Porn in the USA: The Geography of Desire
(a encapsulation of current social sciences research by Stephen Bates in The Wilson Quarterly, Summer 2009)

Who subscribes to pornographic websites? Benjamin Edelman of Harvard Business School summarizes data from a major provider of online porn in The Journal of Economic Perspectives (Winter 2009). Per capita, Utah has the most subscriptions to porn sites, and West Virginia the fewest. Some religious attitudes correlate with subscription rates, Edelman reports: "In states where more people agree that 'Even today miracles are performed by the power of God' and 'I never doubt the existence of God,' there are more subscriptions." Residents of states with high rates of churchgoing prove to be about average in their appetite for pay porn--the only difference is that fewer of them sign up on Sundays.