Whilst researching for my recent articles Why sexual fantasies can be healthy in a strong relationship and Are you he, she or non-binary in gender identity?, I came across some interesting data on human sexuality as a result of a recent publication on the search habits of men and women. Numerous authors over the years such as Nancy Friday and Jesse Bering have helped us to understand the importance of avoiding shame when fantasising about sex. More recently Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam have contributed another useful insight. They were given access to extensive AOL web search datasets for a period of time (anonymised, of course) and they tracked more than 1 billion searches by seekers of sexual excitement. Their book “A Billion Wicked Thoughts” is the result and it reveals some interesting insights.
Hetrosexual men use the search term ‘penis’ as often as ‘vagina’ when looking for porn online. That might not be too surprising given that men might be keen to check out their competition. However, it becomes more interesting when the results of eye tracking studies are known. Straight men will look at the crotch area of other men more often than women will do. It gets more intriguing for the category of ‘shemale’ porn, sometimes known as futanari (see picture, opposite). This is primarily the interest of hetrosexual men, since women and gay men show little interest in it. (The authors are quick, quite rightly, to point out that the ‘shemale’ term is a derogatory term in the trans community, as it almost exclusively a term used in the adult porn world).
So, why would hetrosexual (not bisexual) men search for ‘shemale’ porn? Well, the authors explain the phenomenon of this category of porn as combining the penis with the other main anatomical cues for desire amongst straight men (the other main cues being breasts, feet and backsides). Ogas and Gaddam believe that this represents an erotical illusion for straight men, thus creating a single gestalt. There is, for the most part, no obvious hidden gay or bisexual tendencies as such, but the fantasy finds expression in this form as it comprises biological cues for desire. The fantasy essentially tricks the male sexual brain (male erotical illusions are mostly visual, since the male sexual brain consists primarily of visual cues). Gay men are also as interested in the same anatomical cues as straight men, namely chests, feet, backsides and penis, obviously.
Intriguingly, the most common erotical illusion for women, by search terms, turned out to be vampires and the whole paranormal genre of romance. Perhaps the datasets comprised overwhelming numbers of American residents. Female erotical illusions are mostly psychological, since, generally speaking, the female sexual brain consists primarily of psychological cues.
Ogas and Gaddam have been heavily criticised by academics for their research methodology and for their generalisations (for example, of course, women can also separate their physical desire cues from their psychological cues and can also enjoy fetish) and for their interpretations based upon the datasets, which, for some, amounted to sexist and stereotypical attitudes. However, whilst some of the criticisms have been valid, their book is still a good read and a useful insight into the whole area of human sexuality.
Ogas and Gaddam explain the findings of their datasets more fully in the following clips: