A recent study shows that, while the consumption of online pornography doesn't vary a lot between states, the states with the highest rates are the ones that are more conservative and religious.
The study, by Benjamin Edelman, assistant professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, controls for the amount of broadband access available in a region, and looked at pornography consumption by zip code.
The most-subscribed state, by a variety of criteria? Per thousand people, per thousand home Internet users, per thousand home broadband users -- Utah was Number One.
Other states in the top 10, per thousand home broadband users, were Alaska, Mississippi, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Arkansas, North Dakota, Louisiana, Florida, and West Virginia.
Least-subscribed states in the category were Montana, Idaho, Tennessee, Ohio, Oregon, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, Wyoming, and Michigan.
Other factors that increased online porn subscriptions were average household income, an increase in residents of ages 15-24, and college degrees. Factors that reduced online porn subscriptions were an increase in residents of ages 65 or older, and graduate degrees.
Urban areas were more likely to have subscribers; increases in both marriage and divorce were likely to reduce subscribers; and in areas where more people reported attending religious services, subscriptions were more likely to start on Sundays.
More specifically, "adult escort sites are more popular in “blue” states that voted for Gore in 2004, while visitors from the “red” states that voted for Bush in 2004 are more likely to visit wife-swapping sites, adult webcams, and sites about voyeurism," the study found.
Edelman said, however, that one of the most notable findings of the study was how little difference there actually was between states; the ratio of the most-subscribing state, compared to the least-subscribing state, was 2.85, compared to ratios such as 3933:1 for truck ownership.
