"America's Sex Life Exposed" (The things You Learn From Google Searches)

One of the most puzzling parts of the information I get as a webmaster (I aways wanted to call myself that) is when I see on a daily basis the Search queries. Never understood them but they are 90% sexual. For a site that is openly media and news oriented, why someone wants the "biggest dildo" etc. I have no idea.     *Adam

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, a former Google data scientist and Harvard economics Ph.D., spent five years combing through data on U.S. Google searches to learn more about people’s thoughts and behaviors. In recent interviews surrounding the release of his new book Everybody Lies, he has shared insights into gay and bi men’s sex lives. Here are some of his findings:

1. Five percent of men are predominantly attracted to men

By looking at porn-related searches across the U.S., Stephens-Davidowitz came to the conclusion that many men have same-sex sexual fantasies, even if most never act on them.

“It’s clear that a lot of gay men remain in the closet,” Stephens-Davidowitz recently told Vox. “In places where it’s hard to be gay, such as Mississippi, far fewer men say that they are gay than in places where it’s easy to be gay, such as New York.”

2. Gay porn searches are about the same everywhere.

While a recent infographic from the porn tube site PornHub revealed the kinds of gay porn that people search for most, Stephens-Davidowitz says that roughly the same amount of people search for gay porn no matter where they are.

This is interesting because it flies in the face of previous research concluding that red southern states with anti-gay laws seek out gay porn more often than gay-friendly blue states.

3. Many men are closeted and married (and their wives suspect it)

Considering that an estimated 21 percent of straight men watch gay porn (and a smaller number participate in same-sex “buddy sex” without considering themselves gay or bisexual), it’s no wonder that many gay and bi men are closeted and married.

Stephens-Davidowitz came to this conclusion by cross-referencing men’s gay porn searches with women’s searches asking how to tell if their husbands are gay.

He said, “Women are eight times more likely to ask Google if their husband is gay than if he is an alcoholic and 10 times more likely to ask Google if their husband is gay than if he is depressed.”

But, he adds, “I think women are too obsessed with their husbands’ sexuality…. It is far more likely that a woman is married to a man who is secretly an alcoholic or secretly depressed than secretly gay.”

4. Men are super insecure about their penis size and premature ejaculation

In a video interview with Buzzfeed (above), Stephens-Davidowitz said, “Men make searches about their penises than any other body part by far…. For every 100 searches men make about their penis, they make about five about their own brain.” He said the second most common search for men is how to last longer in bed.

Stephens-Davidowitz says that women make as many searches about their genitals as men, except while men search for results on “small penis”, women search for “smelly vagina.”

5. Fear of sex may be causing us to be having less of it

“In general,” he said, “this whole data kinda shows us that there’s a whole lot of not talking going on where … things that should be conversations with your partner instead are questions on the internet.”

Stephens-Davidowitz says that people have “overwhelming” anxiety and insecurity about sex. He thinks if we lowered the anxiety around sex, we’d all be having more of it.

(Featured image by palantir via iStock Photography)