Hello web-surfers, data fetishists, and the people still unravelling the mysteries of the female orgasm (sigh), PornHub has finally revealed its mind-bogglingly detailed review of online porn habits in the year that was. Breaking down various aspects of viewership (from age to top searches to major dips during the FIFA cup or Holika Dahan) the world’s largest porn site reveals human sexuality in action – or at least some quantifiable aspects.
The sheer volume of porn generated in 2018 was an astounding 1 million hours! In PornHub’s own words, “If you were to start watching 2018’s videos after the Wright brothers’ first flight in 1903, you would still be watching them today 115 years later!”
So, while we were all stimulating the reward systems of our brains and slurping up the dopamine, here’s what PornHub found:
1. Porn In Your Pocket
India made third place among 20 countries responsible for 80% of daily traffic, with a continued love for the MILF category. Doesn’t look like we’re letting go of our good ol’ Savita Bhabhi obsession any time soon. And to get our porn fix, Indians (90% of us!) preferred the ease of smartphones, over any other device. Putting those cheaper internet data plans to good use, eh?
2. Only 30% Of India’s Viewers Were Women
Maybe films like “Parched” and “Lipstick Under My Burkha” are still a bit too controversial to inspire an increase in women’s viewership. But maybe not. The ‘1 in 3 women watch porn’ statistic has been floating around for some time, but India’s low number is probably the result of access. After all, only 38% of women in India have smartphones of their own.
3. Type ‘Trans’, Hit Enter
This category has come a long way from being totally fringe content back in 1998 when first launched by Evil Angel. PornHub’s breakdown by gender found that male viewers searching for ‘trans’ porn increased by 167% since 2017. Perhaps its allure can be put down to taboos? I’m assuming a majority of these viewers were heterosexual, but even if I were to include queer men, it still makes sense. A sort of transgression of sexuality, if you will.
4. Make (Love) In India
PornHub found that, despite being drawn to hentai and Japanese videos, we favour the homegrown stuff. Sunny Leone still dominates our fantasies, and among our top searches were ‘indian college girls’, ‘hindi sexy film’, and ‘telugu blue film’.
5. Sunny Freakin’ Leone
Let’s be honest. Our girl Sunny deserves a couple of lines solely about her. She took 17th place this year as the most searched-for pornstar, but maintains her status as #1 for her country-fellows.
6. The Flash Of Fap
This isn’t to say that Indians are imbued with the superhero speed, but we do seem to be pretty quick when it comes to getting off. Following Russia (where the average watch-time was 7 minutes and 48 seconds) India has maintained its time at 8 minutes and 23 seconds.
7. Early Bloomers
Beating (lol) the United States, France, and even the Netherlands (supposedly the world’s largest den of vices), India has the youngest porn viewers in the world. That’s right, 44% of Indian viewers were between the ages of 18 and 24. Folks in the 25 to 34 category weren’t far behind, coming in at 41%. Yessiree, our youngbloods’ libidos sure are impressive!
To Sex-finity And Beyond!
TechCrunch writer Jason Biggs is convinced that “[p]orn is the canary in the tech coal mine”. And there’s enough evidence that it has an impact on our circuitry (remember what I said about that dopamine hit?). It is certainly interesting to think about what watching porn does to us. Personally, I think a lot about (as the review shows) the sexualisation of childhood characters like Princess Peach (Mario), Misty (Pokemon) and Zelda (Legend of Zelda). The PornHub review is a really interesting glimpse into what sexual desire looked like in 2018.
And one thing is for certain. India sure loves jacking (and jilling) off.