A pair of recent studies tracking the porn-consuming habits of populations around the world generated some numbers that, depending upon your point of view, are either shocking or yawningly obvious.

Around the globe, the top three consumers of pornography are China (28 percent of the market), South Korea (27 percent) and Japan (21 percent). The US comes in fourth with a measly 14 percent of porn purchases, a comparison that some may find odd, considering that the top consumers on this list are typically thought to be far more sexually conservative than America. For example, South Korea's Military Penal Code makes no distinction between consensual and non-consensual same-sex acts, and names adult consensual homosexual sex as "reciprocal rape." Yikes! Japan's Elder Porn

Also of interest is the fact that major American brands like GM, Warner Brothers and even the (Mormon-owned) Marriott make millions from selling erotica-based media! And guess what else, ladies? Men may get branded as the porn-obsessed half of the population but, according to the above study, we constitute 1/3 of the internet porn users in the market. When Did Porn Become Mainstream?

Researcher Ben Edelman of Harvard Business school shared the findings of his recent study (PDF), and the break-downs are a little comical. The top porn-consuming state in the US (per capita)? Utah. In fact, Edelman found that states with more conservative legislations against homosexuality tended to have the highest rate of porn use. Of the top ten porn-consuming states in the US, eight voted for McCain in the 2008 election, while six of the least porn-obsessed states went for Obama. Hmm. Bristol Palin & Conservative Teen Sex



Source: Online Education

There are many ways to speculate about this data. The same people who vote conservatively along marriage, abortion and other sex issue lines may not be the same people buying porn; they may just live next door to them. But it is interesting to see that the areas typically pointed to as centers of sin and immorality (New York and California, for example) are among the lowest consumers of pornographic media. Could More Porn Actually Make Us Healthier?

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What do you think the amount of porn use in different areas says about their cultures?