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. 2020 Dec;33(8):824-831.
doi: 10.1038/s41443-020-00380-w. Epub 2020 Nov 28.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on pornography habits: a global analysis of Google Trends

Fabio Zattoni #  1 , Murat Gül #  2 , Matteo Soligo  3 , Alessandro Morlacco  3 , Giovanni Motterle  3 , Jeanlou Collavino  3 , Andrea Celeste Barneschi  3 , Marco Moschini  4 , Fabrizio Dal Moro  5   6
Affiliations

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on pornography habits: a global analysis of Google Trends

Fabio Zattoni et al. Int J Impot Res. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

As the COVID-19 spread globally, social distancing, self-isolation/quarantine, and national lockdowns have become crucial to control the pandemic. However, these measures may also lead to increases in social isolation, loneliness, and stress, which can alter the consumption of pornography habits. The aim of the study was thus to explore the interest pattern in pornography and coronavirus-themed pornography during the COVID-19 outbreak. Google Trends® was employed to determine the most popular porn websites (Porn, XNXX, PornHub, xVideos, and xHamster), and coronavirus-themed pornography worldwide and in six nations with different COVID-19 outbreak and self-isolation recommendations. We analyzed every search trend on Google® from January 9, 2020 to May 25, 2020 using "joint point regression analysis". Comparisons of week relative search volume (WRSV) and temporal patterns were analyzed to assess the change of interest in search terms during nations lockdowns. Paired t-test was used to compare WRSV values among the porn websites during the national lockdowns and the equivalent timespan of the weeks in the previous 4 years. The research trend of almost every keyword increased with significant inflection points for those nations with a straight "stay at home orders" (China, Italy, Spain, and France). "PornHub" and "Porn" showed the highest increase of interest worldwide with an average weekend percentage change (AWPC) of 4.9 and 3.8, respectively. The mean WRSV for keywords in USA and Sweden did not show a similar increase as the other nations. The WRSV percentage change with the historical data had a peak during the straight nations' lockdowns (p < 0.01). All the nations had a significant increase in WRSV coronavirus-themed pornography for each keyword (p < 0.01) with an AWPC, ranging worldwide between 18.5 and 61.8 (p < 0.01), after the beginning of self-quarantine. As strengths this study uses a big data technology to collect worldwide trend of interest, however, data are anonymous and do not allow analysis of subpopulation groups. In conclusion, we demonstrated an increased interest in pornography and coronavirus-themed pornography after the outbreak of COVID-19 in nations with a straight "stay at home orders".

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Week relative search volume (WRSV) for “Porn,” “XNXX,” “PornHub”, “xVideos”, “xHamster” for the entire world over time.
Significant changes in slope within the national lockdown are highlighted with a red rhombus. Red line is the superimposed new COVID-19 cases (color figure online).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Week relative search volume (WRSV) percentage change compared to the mean WRSV of the equivalent timespan of previous 4 years for the entire world over time.
The red line is the superimposed new COVID-19 cases during the corresponding months of 2020 (color figure online).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Week relative search volume (WRSV) of coronavirus-themed pornography for the entire world over time.
Significant changes in slope within the national lockdown is highlighted with a red rhombus. Fetishism is used as a comparative terms of paraphilic pornography. Red line is the superimposed new COVID-19 cases (color figure online).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. The internet traffic percentage changes according to “PornHub” website compared to an average day in the past 4 years.
An increase in internet traffic search is shown for each gender (a), age groups (b), worldwide (c), and coronavirus-themed search (d).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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