"We are all voyeurs to some degree"
In its 2023 Year in Review, Pornhub revealed that ‘Indian’ is a popular term in certain countries when it comes to porn searches.
The year 2023 is the adult website’s 10th anniversary of insights.
Every year, the Insights team and Pornhub’s statisticians sift through data from billions of visits to see what content defined the tastes of the year.
Dr Laurie Betito, of the Sexual Wellness Centre, said:
“It is human nature to be curious about the extraordinary. When it comes to sex, it is no different.
“We are all voyeurs to some degree, and we want to see the extremes – what we generally don’t have access to in real life.”
Surprisingly, Pornhub users were particularly interested in ‘mature’ content, with searches like ‘sexy granny’, ‘MILF’, ‘DILF’ and ‘cougar’ all making the top spots.
These search terms were placed under The Golden Age.
Another surprising term was Sexual Healing, with ‘therapy’ searches up 344% since 2022.
Many terms were related to physical acts such as ‘massage therapy’, which was up 76%.
Speaking about Sexual Healing, Dr Betito said:
“I find it interesting that ‘therapy’ is a porn search word.
“More and more people, thankfully, are seeking help for mental health and sexual issues, which is great.
“However, at the same time, fantasies involving a patient/therapist relationship turned sexual is quite common, probably because it is taboo and involves a power differential.
“In real life, clients can experience feelings for a therapist (transference) because of the nature of the relationship (the client shares very intimate details of their life and feels safe), and this can turn into fantasies of a sexual nature.
“The forbidden nature of the relationship also may fuel this fantasy.”
Although India is not in the top 20 in terms of traffic, searches for ‘Indian’ have become more prominent in some countries, perhaps due to large South Asian populations.
For example, in the UK, ‘Indian’ went up two spots to third place, with ‘MILF’ and ‘lesbian’ being more popular search terms.
As for relative countries, the UK was more likely to view ‘Indian’ at 92%.
Canada is another country populated with South Asians and while ‘Indian’ remains a popular search term, it has actually fallen three places to ninth.
But in terms of relative categories, ‘Indian’ was viewed 118% more in Canada compared to other countries.
In a huge surprise, there has been a surge in ‘Indian’ porn searches in the Netherlands.
The term sits in seventh place, eight places higher than in 2022. Just above ‘Indian’ is ‘Asian’, suggesting that the Dutch may have a fantasy for that part of the world.
Although the term is popular in specific countries, ‘Indian’ has fallen one place in the overall searches for 2023.
Abella Danger remains the most popular adult film star.
Thanks to some of her work with top studios over the years, her videos accumulated over 1.8 billion views.
Although she is no longer associated with the porn industry, Mia Khalifa is still popular among Pornhub users.
The Lebanese-American had a brief career spanning from 2014 to 2015 but during that time, she became the number one ranked performer on Pornhub.
Her videos continue to be enjoyed and in 2023, she is the seventh-most searched pornstar.
When it comes to demographics, there was a proportional growth of +1% female viewers in 2023, bringing the total proportion of female visitors worldwide to 36%.
In terms of age, the average was 37 years old.
But most viewers are between 18 and 34, making up over half the entire viewership.
The 18-24 age bracket made up 27% of all traffic and the 25-34 age bracket made up 26% of all traffic. After that, the numbers decrease.
The overall increase in porn viewing is down to the prominence of mobile devices, with 91.3% of all traffic coming from mobile devices now.
Pornhub’s Year in Review reveals sexual habits during 2023. However, the use of porn as a substitute for sex education is becoming a worry.
With young people using porn as a means of learning how sexual interaction takes place, it does have a profound impact on real relationships and sexual conduct.
Porn in many instances is either staged by professional actors getting paid to do what is needed; or it is of the amateur nature, which usually involves people filming their intimate acts for the voyeurism of others.
Therefore, with it being used to learn how to perform sexual acts, it does leave the door open for huge misinterpretation. Especially, by males performing sexual acts on women.
However, Pornhub’s annual data collection shows porn generates an immense amount of traffic.