A STUDY of American porn consumption reveals that the most conservative of American Christians are those who access pornography the most.
Benjamin Edelman, at Harvard Business School, is quoted in the New Scientist as saying:
Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very things they claimed to be outraged by.
The study, among other things, found that residents of 27 states that passed laws banning gay marriages boasted 11 percent more porn subscribers than states that don’t explicitly restrict gay marriage.
Eight of the top 10 pornography consuming states gave their electoral votes to John McCain in last year’s presidential election – Florida and Hawaii were the exceptions. Six out of the lowest 10 favoured Barack Obama.
States where a majority of residents agreed with the statement “I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage,” bought 3.6 more subscriptions per thousand people than states where a majority disagreed.
A similar difference emerged for the statement:
AIDS might be God’s punishment for immoral sexual behaviour.
Said Edelman:
One natural hypothesis is something like repression: if you’re told you can’t have this, then you want it more.
The biggest consumer, Utah, averaged 5.47 adult content subscriptions per 1,000 home broadband users; Montana bought the least with 1.92 per 1000.
Church-goers accessed less online porn on Sundays – but spending on porn on other days of the week brought them in line with the rest of the country.
Hat Tip: Talitha
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I’m so amused that I cannot form an intelligent answer to this, so I will only comment with four letters:
ROFL!
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:42 pm
That would suggest Mormons are the biggest wankers in America.
Who’d have guessed that eh!
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Makes sense. People with no willpower want temptation to be taken away from them by the state.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Don’t these morons know that there is any amount of FREE porn out there?
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Well, is anybody surprised that those who wish to model the neighbourhood on traditional/conservative/family values the most staunchly cannot stay true to those sentiments behind closed doors? Religion and hypocricy go together like boiled eggs and soldiers.
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:10 pm
I’m reminded of a poem by Liz Lochhead whose final line goes something like ‘every lonely wank goes straight to the heart of Jesus’
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Thanks Alan C., I’m glad somebody else made that point…
Doh!
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:38 pm
check out article “If God wants all humans to be Christians” at http://www.freethoughtperspective.net
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:53 pm
it get even better
http://www.ihatethemedia.com/d.....-consumers
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Why am I not surprised by this?
What percentage of catholic priests subscribe to internet porn sites? I’d love to know.
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:36 pm
OK, as a secularist myself I can sympathize with the point you’re trying to make, but does no one else really see the silly logic of this article? It leads off saying that “A study of American porn consumption reveals that the most conservative of American Christians are those who access pornography the most,” getting my curiosity up, and then goes on to prove nothing of the sort, saying only that the most conservative STATES (not individual Christians) are most likely to have a higher per capita use of porn. This is such a non sequitur that we can only laugh.
This kind of reasoning is exactly the kind of illogic that converts some people to Christianity in the first place. Using it ourselves certainly doesn’t help our cause at all.
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:43 pm
No Surprise that the religious view more porn than the rest of us, probably because they are so sexually repressed. I’m looking forward to Bob trying to slither around the facts of this study.
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Kevin, can you please point out what you found false in the article you pointed out?
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Nice, isn’t it, that the fascists who try to dictate how we run our lives are the biggest hypocrites of all? Then they wring their hands and cry about how persecuted they are because people reject their religious tripe.
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Hi Wayne. While the article title and opening paragraph jump the gun a little in the assumption that a conservative voter majority in any given State must be those who identify as Christians, it is surely highly unlikely that
a) Only a small amount of them do, especially given that the USA is more devoutly Christian than many other countries in the developed world, and
b) All Internet porn customers in these particular States are in the liberal/secular minority.
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Mark, the first and most important thing that is wrong with that article at ihatethemedia is that the picture of the naked lady is all pixelated and you just can’t see her tits at all.
Secondly, they bang on about the dubious accuracy of, and lack of evidence for the conclusion of the ABC report then go on to give this as their conclusion:
“While we think it’s quite possible that conservatives buy more porn, we’re also think it’s quite possible that liberals actually consume more porn. The difference, we think, is that conservatives pay for it, but liberals don’t. After all, why would anyone think that the same people who want free healthcare, free welfare and free mortgages wouldn’t also want free porn.”
Is this not jumping to conclusions too?
March 3rd, 2009 at 6:29 am
The conclusions of this study really are reading an awful lot of detail into very little data. What it actually tells us is that very few people in any of these states buy online porn, or at least not from the companies studied. I think it can fairly be labelled a wanky story for a slow news day.
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:13 am
Hypocrisy and religion going hand in hand, noooo – never I tell you, never….
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:12 pm
I will be using this article with my students today as a classic example of how NOT to reason, how NOT to try to persuade, how NOT to build an argument. I use plenty of such examples from the religious side of things, but it’s sad how many there are on our side as well. Let’s try to be Clear Thinkers as well as Free Thinkers, not just setting up straw men of our own to shoot down.
My only hesitation in using it is that it is such an extreme example and barely merits the respect of being used as an example at all; seems like the type of argument you might get in a high school freshman essay.
Let’s do better.
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
So christians are the biggest wankers eh? Well well well, who would have thunk it!
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:39 pm
So, what else is new? They are also viciously enthusiastic child beaters. “Spare the rod etc….”
May 7th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Benjamin Edelman’s article in the Journal of Economic Perspectives: Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?
@Wayne
For an example of how NOT to build an argument, see
Debunked: Porn in the USA, Conservatives are biggest consumers at ihatethemedia.
Thanks for the link Kevin!
September 12th, 2009 at 6:10 am
I don't know if anyone has thought through this, but calling oneself a Christian does not instantly remove any wrong doing from your life. Secondly, Christians who are viewing/interacting with porn are in one of a number of categories:
1. They are a new Christian still struggling with old habits and still have trouble.
2. They are a nominal Christian who may to church and have righteous opinions, but doesn't really know who God is and frankly doesn't really care. Thus their Christianity, lacking relationship with God, is not really Christianity at all, but mere religiosity, which is generally not strong enough to keep one from an addiction like porn.
3. They are following God in some areas of life, but have not yet given up sexual addiction, in which case they are rebelling against God and need to fess up and take action to get clean before porn eats their heart out.
Those are just three possibilities, but if you understand people, you understand that they cannot be lumped into one category (stereotyping). Among Christians you have what we call "sinners" just like everyone else; you'll find alcoholics, liars, cheaters, hookers, hypocrites etc. but the difference is that the mark of a true follower of Jesus is change. I grew up in the burbs, never had sex, never did drugs, got off to a good start, so am I a better Christian than my friend who isn't a virgin and still struggles with lust? No.
Of course, Christians should not be viewing porn. But let's do some thinking folks. Although, it is easier to dump us all in one bin, isn't it?
September 26th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
So following the teachings of Christ Jesus not to lust with the eye actually causes you to? ? ? How is that possible? Oh wait, or are you saying that they "claim" to follow Christ but apparently don't and fall prey to sin like other people? Or are you saying they still sin but try to turn from sin unlike those who indulge it?
I once knew of an atheist who thought he was going to die while screaming for "Jesus". .. I knew it. An atheist can't find God for the same reason a crook can't find a cop.
You either have:
A savior/Christ Jesus
Religion (bribing a holy god on judgment day with good works)
Or faith in nothing/atheism (everything "scientifically" came together without reason or orchestration from an unknowable origin. If you're honest with yourself…