> I think porn is a pretty good measure of people’s sexual fantasies, even if they never act on them.<p>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.
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."<p>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 understand it, most porn is consumed alone, as a substitute for sex with a partner. What people seek out under such circumstances may not be that representative of what works for them in a relationship.
> "Stephens-Davidowitz’s data suggests that there are more gay men in the closet than we think..."<p>> "...that a lot of straight women watch lesbian porn"<p>Why not a lot straight men that watch gay porn, and more lesbian woman in the closet than you would think?<p>Or just people who are hyper-sexual?<p>I'd be interested in understanding the methods used to determine the difference between homosexuality and hyper-sexuality, and simply curious.<p>But I feel that both of those original statements evoke certain stereotypes, which makes me wonder what biases were applied to the study.
I find it hard to accept his conclusions. For example this:<p>> 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.<p>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?<p>Same goes for overweight women. Some of the interest in watching those videos could even come out of hate.
This makes Freakonomics sound like Nobel material. Completely vacuous.<p>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.<p>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?
>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.<p>That's quite a leap there Seth Stephens-Davidowitz.
This article is of USA origin, clearly. You guys are strange -- always be like "ohhh we're Homo Sapiens, let's be ashamed of ourselves and let's deny our nature until the end of time!". You're starting to rival the Japanese in self-shaming which really says something.<p>Can't you just shout "I wanna f_ck any way I like and none of you can do anything about it!" and move on with your life already? Like, forever?<p>People have all sorts of fantasies and they develop based on one's persona, needs and environment. If your dream is to be nailed in the butthole by a game warden, there are probably millions of people on this planet who not only won't mock you but they'll also indulge you (by being the real thing, or by roleplaying). Same goes for if you can't get a boner without your bed being filled with unicorn plushies, or scr_wing armpits, or whatever floats your boat.<p>Drop the shame. Enough. Just go down the street smiling at the thought that nobody is oppressing your sexual needs, because in 99% of the time that's the truth.
This isn't very convincing. The conclusions rely on at least two assumptions that aren't well supported<p>* That these searches are a proxy for honest expression of a sexual desire<p>* That these searches are by the cohorts purported
not that it proves much overall, but the porn i masturbate to actually has little to do with what i enjoy sexually with a live woman. i'm sure i'm not the only one
It may be (and I don't know) that a large group of people abstain from porn altogether.<p>So the preference of people who visit Porn Hub may be just that and it isn't accurate to extrapolate this to society at large.<p>The percentage of people liking "disgusting" porn for example may be higher among the group of people who habitually view porn. So I'm not sure it's fair to say that this desire translates into the general population.
Shouldnt the title be "Pornhub searches" not Google? as far as I know Google doesnt even show autocomplete results for porn related keywords.
Related discussion: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14632004" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14632004</a>