It’s practically a cliche at this point that those who publicly (and harshly) oppose marriage equality, or even queerness at a fundamental level, likely have some major skeletons buried deep within their psychic closets.
Give it a few weeks and we can almost guarantee another antigay [insert powerful title here] will be revealed to have a Grindr account or be caught hiring male prostitutes.
And the numbers certainly bolster the argument.
According to a recent PornHub survey, in states like Mississippi and North Carolina — both of which recently enacted antigay legislature — rates of porn consumption are curiously high, especially same-sex content. Of the top five gay porn-consuming states in the country, three are in the South, an area not particularly known for its sweeping LGBTQ inclusiveness.
Related: Grindr Screenshots Reveal Antigay Pastor Is A Top Who Likes To Cuddle
Other previous studies have reached similar conclusions. And it’s not just gay porn — “family value” conservatives secretly consume all sorts of adult content behind closed doors.
A 2009 study revealed that the 27 states which had passed resolutions against same-sex marriage consumed 11% more adult material than the states that didn’t.
Related: Orgy-Loving Priest Outed For Keeping Secret Grindr Account
Another set of researchers who looked at the phenomenon wrote, “At minimum, these internet-search data clearly demonstrate that those living in states with greater proportions of very religious or conservative citizenry nonetheless seek out and experience the forbidden fruit of sexuality in private settings.”
So what’s going on?
Salon recently hypothesized:
The simple answer might be sexual repression in a culture of abstinence-only education, but these rates also speak to the wider lack of affirming resources for people to explore what they like. Many cities and areas of the country don’t have a gay bar, let alone a visible LGBT community, meaning that their Web browser is forced to provide the connection they lack elsewhere.
Related: Antigay Republican Lawmaker Caught Cruising Grindr For A Winter Cuddle Bud
These attitudes begin at the highest levels of state government and religious institutions and trickle down to browser histories everywhere.
“[W]hen people are touting these very hard lines about what others should and shouldn’t be doing and then in their private lives they’re not doing what they say, that doesn’t surprise me,” Chauntelle Tibbals, a sociologist and sex researcher, told The Daily Beast, “because they themselves are putting boundaries around their own sexuality.”
At best, it’s a sorry state of affairs that well-intentioned people are losing themselves to religious and political dogma, developing fractured identities along the way.
Related: Hear From Closeted Gay Republicans Cruising Grindr At CPAC
The darker take, though, is there are those who are well aware of the hypocrisy who maintain the illusion in order to control others for personal gain — the politicians and religious leaders who we will gladly continue to expose whenever they slip up and reveal their true selves.
Who’s next?
AtticusBennett
and Mormons with antidepressant usage!
GC1985
It is an escape for many in such repressive states… Drumpz is leading in most of those states afterall.
NateOcean
Actually for overall porn consumption, Utah leads the nation:
http://www.pleated-jeans.com/2011/01/24/the-united-states-of-shame-chart/
Mostly the deep south is known for Obesity, and Strokes (which kind of go together). Oh, and Gonorrhea.
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Otherwise, the nation is mostly obsessed with lesbianism:
http://www.pornhub.com/insights/united-states-top-searches
…but if you scroll down that page, you see they like ’em young.
Poncho Sanchez
I never used pornhub and many of those type of sites. Too much advertisement. I wouldn’t put too much weight on these findings.
Kangol
@NateOcean: Utah isn’t Southern but it’s one of the most consistently conservative (in voting and attitudes) states in the USA. It does have the somewhat moderate capital city of Salt Lake City, though.
But the answer to the why is: psychological and sexual repression. This is also why these states fight against women’s equality, LBTQ equality, and sexual freedom in general. They’re also socially and politically conservative in other ways (race, class, etc.), and economically poorer than the blue states.
Just keep in mind that states like New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Massachusetts, etc., pay more into the federal treasury than they receive, while rabidly anti-government, conservative states like Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, etc, that are always railing against welfare, poor people, Obamacare, etc., receive more than they pay in. Go figure!
martinbakman
Same as in Moslem countries. The men are rabidly anti-gay, expect every chance they get they’ll be nailing boys.
Brian
If you watch porn, you are watching acts of prostitution. It’s not sexuality you are looking at.
Brian
@NateOcean: well, if you look at pornhub, it promotes female-female a lot more than male-male. In fact, porn is very anti male-male. Virtually all porn scenes that contain both men and women allow only the female-female version of homosexuality rather than the male-male.
I call it the bisexual double standard. It was created by sleazy straight guys and female prostitutes.
Billy Budd
You see what religion does to people? They say one thing, they do another. Porn is the only way they can release their hidden desires.
Chris
And here I thought that they were doing research.
Brian
Well, to be fair, it is gay-identifying men who soak themselves in the sea of porn. It’s a porn-based lifestyle where constant stimulation is sought.
onthemark
@Brian: The article’s statistics say exactly the opposite.
Goforit
@onthemark: Brian has never allowed facts to get in the way of his misogyny. Or for that matter, his racism, bigotry, hate, hate, hate……..
DMRX
@Goforit: Absolutely true, based on his comments that I’ve read.
Rude Drew
I just want to know who are the guys In The article pic and where is that video lol
dwes09
@DMRX: He seems (whether it be indulging his misogyny or his other prejudices) to simply make things up and then assume that in so doing they become true. His imagination holds more weight for him than statistics or research. Kind of like the right wing: though I don’t know his political leanings, his cultural/social leanings are certainly far to the right.
scotshot
@Brian: Do you masturbate as you write?
Billy Budd
Yes, I agree that Brian is an idiot. He is also weird.
GayEGO
@Brian: Uh-duh…my lifetime partner of 54 years, married 12 years – finally, have many friends single and married, gay and straight because we have “RELATIONSHIPS”. Sex is prominent in all genders, porn is available for all genders. Brian, you are behind the times and should catch up, marriage quality is the law of the land.
He BGB
Not just the hidden porngraphy and grindr.accounts but many of the men in these states have beards (wives and girlfriends) to complete that perfect religious conservative portrait. Hypocrisy is disgusting
SteveDenver
@AtticusBennett: I have friends who own a chain of adult bookstores. They’ve remodeled all of them, except the one just inside the Colorado/Utah border: it’s so busy around the clock they can’t shut it down for a single day.
They specialize in liquidating porn magazines and DVDs, and always have three semi-trailers parked behind the shop full of stock that is labeled and ready to put out. There is a liquor store a half block away, same story: so busy with Utahans hopping the border and stocking up that the store hasn’t been refurbished in a decade.
Then there’s the social services aspect. I was at happy hour with a social worker and she said there is a steady parade of pregnant foster teens from Utah — it’s assumed that teen girls who arrive in Colorado from Utah need pregnancy and STD testing, as well as psychological counseling for exual assault.
midknightryder13
@Brian — while PornHub does DEFAULT to heterosexual material, they DO HAVE a substantial gay section. And, if you manipulate the settings correctly, it will pull up only all-male porn.
Brian
@midknightryder13: Virtually all heterosexual interactions including 2 or more women involve lesbian interactions. So, yes, there is a bias in favor of female homosexuality over male homosexuality in porn. Don’t deny it.
I always think it’s hilarious how porn sites define female homosexual interactions as “straight”.
Voikot
Who’s the blond guy?