Most of us have heard of Spotify wrapped and, around December each year, have seen our friends’ listening statistics flood our feeds and timelines. An equally exciting but perhaps less known collection of annual statistics is Pornhub's “A Year in Review.” This set of statistics goes into incredible detail, but this post will analyze only a couple of large trends and how they might reflect the social and political trends of the year.
First off, I think it is important that we understand the extent to which porn is reflective of and can reflect on society. Pornhub is one of many companies, including RedTube and YouPorn, owned by the parent company MindGeek. Among the sites available, Pornhub experiences the most traffic, with 38 billion visits annually. If we average this over our global population of 8 billion, this comes out to five visits annually per person. Of course, there is a significant cut of people who are both too old and too young to visit Pornhub and many who can’t access the internet or choose not to watch porn. Nonetheless, this statistic gives an indication of the influence that Pornhub alone has.
Porn has the potential to be empowering, teaching us different ways to experience sexuality while presenting us with new types of sex and serving as an outlet to explore fantasies. It is important to reflect, however, on the power dynamics that exist in the pornographic industry and consider how what is depicted on screen can reflect real exploitative social hierarchies.
When we look at the 20 “most searched” for terms, Ebony, Latina and Asian place third, fourth, and fifth place respectively. Porn will oftentimes showcase marginalized demographics in exaggerated and racist ways to emphasize them as either submissive or dominant. Racial identities might be portrayed and demanded in porn because they are perceived as “exotic” and, therefore, exciting. In Canada, these search trends can be observed with terms relating to First Nations people. In the US, race has a complicated, oppressive, and violent history which has been carried into all kinds of present-day interactions. These “preferences” cannot be compared to others, such as hair color or height. It is also worth reflecting on whether these preferences exist because digital spaces are a reflection of reality or if these digital spaces might come to have an impact on reality later on. We all consciously know that (most) porn is acting, but are porn viewers able to compartmentalize exaggerated stereotypes and the magnified social hierarchies played on in porn?
Hentai is also consistently among the most popular search terms and categories: it was the most searched term worldwide in 2022 and the second highest in the US. Hentai is porn in the style of animated Japanese manga. The characters are often highly sexualized, and due to the animated nature of this category, there is no limit to what can be depicted. Tentacle porn and Lolicon (which depicts young-looking girls in sexual contexts) are among two of many Hentai subcategories. The animated element can arguably distance the viewer and help compartmentalize these fantasies within the virtual and personal realm. Meanwhile, the animated nature also makes literally anything possible, exposing viewers to types of porn which might be more violent or extreme than other categories. An excessive consumption of such porn might even desensitize viewers to more mainstream content or real-life interactions.
Many trends and popular search terms seem to be favoring more taboo topics and types of sex. However, among the top searches that defined 2022, we find Reality—which grew an impressive 169% in the last year. The statistics also show that women view reality porn 37% more than men. This might be due to the depiction of more romantic and connected sex or the fact that women’s orgasms are more genuine. We could also attribute the growth in this category to the rise in popularity of homemade content as a result of Only Fans.
The 7th most popular category worldwide, and one which has continued to grow with a 75% increase since last year, is the Transgender category. The fact that the growth in popularity of this trend aligns with a record number of anti-trans bills is not surprising. When you break down search results by state, the transgender category is most popular in the most trans-oppressive states. When topics are considered too shameful and taboo to be desired or represented in the public sphere, people will often turn to the private sphere of the internet. A Lawsuit study found that Republicans significantly dominate the group of people who search for the transgender category. Moreover, a Republican lawmaker in Alabama who voted to criminalize minors accessing gender-affirming healthcare was allegedly later caught viewing transgender porn online. Maybe this calls for certain individuals to reflect on their internalized transphobia and repressed feelings? Regardless of how much we psychoanalyze this trend, we must also remember that despite the transgender category growing in popularity, transgender sex workers are still among the most vulnerable in society. The livelihood of online sex workers is constantly at risk of conservative legislation, and in the past year, the monetization of both Only Fans and Pornhub has been put at risk.
The term Feet consistently places at the top of search results and was sixth place in the “searches that defined 2022”. The feet category grew by 38% since the last year and is the top fetish-related search. There are many theories as to the origins of fetishes and foot fetishes in particular, including psychoanalytical theories or ones that relate this fetish back to wider culture. Vilayanur Ramachandran currently holds the leading theory around the cause of foot fetishes with his claim that the part of the brain which is responsible for processing sensations in our feet is right next to the part responsible for feeling genital sensations, and thereby these experiences are easily overlapped.
Placing fourth among the “searches that defined 2022”, we find Outdoors. This could be exhibitionism—which is the sexual excitation or gratification from being seen or naked or observed while engaging in a sexual act—or simply sex outdoors in a private and secluded area. The category grew a staggering 121% since the last year, which I think is particularly interesting when we take into account that 2022 can be considered the start of the post-Covid era. Perhaps lockdown and staying inside have made the public yearn for the thrills of outside sex?
Also interesting is a drop in visit duration by a second, from 9 minutes and 55 seconds down to 9 minutes and 54 seconds. This one second drop might be just a coincidence, or perhaps it is the byproduct of our decreased attention spans as a result of content platforms such as TikTok and an ever-growing overstimulated and fast-paced reality. The years to come might give us a better indication as to where this trend is heading.
Reviewing pornography trends can offer valuable insights into the individual and social psyche and give us an idea of how mass social events such as a global pandemic can impact desires. In order for porn to remain an exciting and empowering form of content through which viewers and creators can explore various types of sexualities, the pornographic industry should be held accountable for the content on its platforms, and its practices should be evaluated both on an academic and personal level. It is critical to discuss and reflect on these trends publicly, and open up discussions around boundaries, desires and sexualities.
Written by Ellen Gisto.