And the Most Perverted State is…. UTAH!

Oh Utah, thou dost protest too much. It seems that the states where everyone is god fearin’ and porn hatin’ also happen to be the states where the most internet porn subscribers happen to live. See Benjamin Edelman. “Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?” Journal of Economic Perspectives 23, no. 1 (Winter 2009): 209-230 (PDF here).

Edelman took a look at sales and subscription figures for a number of adult entertainment websites, and he found some of the funniest data I’ve seen in a while. It seems that a more conservative public position on religion, gender, and sexuality translates into higher rates of internet porn memberships. Go figure.

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. In states where more than half of the population proclaims “I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage,” subscription rates are elevated. The same goes for states where Republican education efforts have convinced a majority of the population that “AIDS might be God’s punishment for immoral sexual behaviour.” Source at 219.

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Oregon’s Constitution is so protective of free speech, that porn prosecutions there are about as rare as intelligent speeches on technology given by Ted Stevens. On the other hand, the mother-lands of censorship, Utah and Mississippi… why you dirty peckerwoods. All the time you’re trying to censor the internet and anything else you can get your hands on, you’re filling the porn industry’s coffers with your subscription fees!

Although neither Red nor Blue states have a monopoly on porn subscriptions, there is a divide when it comes to conservative vs. liberal porn tastes. In Blue states, the most popular porn sites are adult escort sites. Red states that voted for Bush in 2004 prefer wife-swapping sites, adult webcams, and sites about voyeurism. (Source at 219)