It’s no secret that when it comes to porn, Pornhub knows exactly what you’re watching and for how long. And in the case of our country, the verdict is – Indians love watching other Indians in action, if the website’s recent survey is to believed.
In a country where discussions around sex are still taboo, where pre-marital sex and non heterosexual sex are still considered a sin, and where there is little or no talk of sex education or even any discussion around the topic, it’s no surprise that we remain one of the most prolific consumers of porn (fourth in the world to be exact!) in the world.
[envoke_twitter_link]The survey findings underline the chronic need for us as a nation to destigmatise sex[/envoke_twitter_link], bring it out of the closet, and have a conversation around it. “Most countries take great pride in their nationality,” Pornhub says in its blogpost analysing pornographic behavious of different countries, “but India takes it to a whole other level as made evident by their top searches on Pornhub”.
A cursory look at top searches from India this year only makes this point clearer. The majority of searches (top, relative, and gaining) include ‘Indian’, whether it is Indian teen, aunty, bhabhi, actress or teacher. “One top term that came seemingly out of nowhere to make it into the top 10 list was in fact ‘Indian aunty with young’, flying up to the top by 81 spots,” the blog notes.
In line with the global trend, about 70 percent of Indian consumers preferred porn on their smartphones, registering 10 percent increase in comparison to 2015. While 48 percent of overall porn watchers were in the age group of 18-24, people belonging to age group of 25-34 made a 28 percent contribution to the porn traffic.
In all, the website streamed nearly 92 billion videos over 23 billion visits during the year. Like every year, USA and the UK lead the charge, with Canada unseating India from the third spot in terms of traffic.
Our pornographic desires notwithstanding – the data that has emerged from the survey is actually quite instructive. It not only holds a mirror to the lens of taboos through which we view sex and porn in our country, but also provides an insight into curiosity surrounding sex amongst citizens in the country. It is high time we Indians look at the data and start a conversation around the issue.