Numerous studies prior to the PornHub survey have resulted in similar findings, and it’s worth asking the question: Why are red states keeping their hands to themselves? The simple answer might be sexual repression in a culture of abstinence-only education, but these rates also speak to the wider lack of affirming resources for people to explore what they like. Many cities and areas of the country don’t have a gay bar, let alone a visible LGBT community, meaning that their Web browser is forced to provide the connection they lack elsewhere.
Queerness has found ways to survive in some of the most repressive areas of the country for decades, often by living a kind of double life. In the seminal 1970s book “Tearoom Trade,” sociologist Laud Humphreys discusses the culture of underground sex that takes place in public restrooms and rest stops, often referred to as “tearoom sex.” In interviewing men looking for casual hookups in the relative privacy of public places, he found something surprising: A majority (54 percent) were married, and many were religious. Two men were even members of the John Birch Society, the extremist right-wing organization founded during the Red Scare of the 1950s.
