Is Utah the porn capital of the United States?
The (Salt Lake City)Deseret News reports on a study indicating that Utah leads the nation in consumption of pornography.
A Harvard academic authored the survey. But is Zion really a porn lover’s paradise? I doubt it. This study is highly, highly dubious, for several reasons. Here are a few.
1.) Utah is the nation’s most Mormon state. Idaho is the second most Mormon state. Utah is at the top of the list, but Idaho is near the very bottom. Utah and Idaho are neighboring states. They’re similar culturally, ideologically, etc. The fact that they’re at opposite ends of the spectrum is a big red flag.
2.) The study is based on one porn company’s list of customers who pay for online porn. This particular (unnamed) company has 1.69 paying customers per every 1,000 Utah residents, if the study is correct. That’s the highest rate in the country for this one company, but it still means that 998.31 out of every 1,000 Utahns don’t buy porn from this company. Branding Utahns as leading porn consumers because of the purchasing habits of 1.69 out of every 1,000 residents is highly questionable.
3.) This study doesn’t indicate that more Utahns consume pornography. At most it shows that more Utahns pay for pornography online from one particular company. Perhaps the percentage of people paying to buy pornography online is higher in Utah because 1.) porn is harder to buy or rent from Utah retailers and 2.) there is a greater fear or stigma attached to buying or renting pornography in Utah. View article…
