Porn in the USA: Conservatives are biggest consumers

Americans may paint themselves in increasingly bright shades of red and blue, but new research finds one thing that varies little across the nation: the liking for online pornography.

A new nationwide study (pdf) of anonymised credit-card receipts from a major online adult entertainment provider finds little variation in consumption between states.

“When it comes to adult entertainment, it seems people are more the same than different,” says Benjamin Edelman at Harvard Business School.

However, there are some trends to be seen in the data. Those states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption, the study finds.

“Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very things they claimed to be outraged by,” Edelman says.

Full New Scientist Article

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People Books

It is being heralded as a safe and innovative way for people to have an open conversation about extremely touchy subjects, or just learn about an interesting stranger.

The Living Library program offers the public a chance to sign out individuals known as “books” with a specific knowledge base for a conversation. No topic is off limits – drug addiction, anarchy, rape or religion – as long as the result is a productive discussion. It launched in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2000, is free and spread to more than 30 countries, including Canada.

The idea is to challenge people’s boundaries and perceptions by exposing them to individuals they may not otherwise meet.

Full Article

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