What Countries Are Googling
by
Motte Brown
on Oct 19, 2007 at 8:19 PM
Last month I wrote about your online footprint. I never thought about countries having one as well.
Based on statistics provided by Google, Inc., Reuters lists some random keywords and the countries that searched them most. Here are some of the results ,
"Sex" - 1) Egypt 2) India 3) Turkey
"Hangover" - 1) Ireland 2) U.K. 3) U.S.
"Burrito" - 1) U.S. 2) Argentina 3) Canada
"Viagra" - 1) Italy 2) U.K. 3) Germany
"Jihad" - 1) Morocco 2) Indonesia 3) Pakistan
Interestingly, these keywords seem to support certain stereotypes of some countries: Irish like to drink, Americans like to eat, and Italians ... well, you know. But I'm a little confused about the top searches for "sex." I thought the western countries were supposed to be most sex obsessed.
1. John D. had the following to say on Oct 20 at 8:58 AM:
"I thought the western countries were supposed to be most sex obsessed."
Actually, I've found that the reverse is true. I knew guys from India and Pakistan in college. As soon as they got to the United States they were goggle-eyed at Playboy and similar magazines which were all too familiar to American college-aged men. My foreign classmates were more like 13-year-olds in their adolescent excitement. The countries they came from were much more puritanical in terms of explicit material.
2. Mike Theemling had the following to say on Oct 20 at 10:28 AM:
"I thought the western countries were supposed to be most sex obsessed."
That may be true, but the difference is that Western countries have easier access to sexually explicit material than those other countries listed (Egypt, India, Turkey).
Also consider that Western countries have had the World Wide Web for much longer (at least in terms of mainstream access) so early on "sex" was probably a top search word. However, since it's been 12 years since 1995 (when the proliferation started to really take off thanks to Netscape), the online market/environment has become saturated so that you no longer need to 'search' anymore for sites. Most can probably think of sex sites off the top of their head or have more varied searches.
Finally it may be just sheer population. For example, with India being the 2nd most populous country in the world and lacking the severe restrictions on Internet use compared to China, there are just more people searching in general.
3. Canadian Boy had the following to say on Oct 20 at 12:24 PM:
Burrito? Canada?
I am shocked.
4. anu had the following to say on Oct 20 at 1:30 PM:
the sex search isn't really surprising. the more sexually repressive a country/society is, the more curious people are, and the less likely they are to be able to get information about sex from anywhere other than on the internet, where they can remain anonymous.
5. Lue-Yee had the following to say on Oct 20 at 5:59 PM:
Turkey isn't repressive. The sex industry may indeed be worse there than in the U.S.
6. Christina had the following to say on Oct 20 at 8:35 PM:
@ Canadian Boy,
I'm more shocked that ANYONE googled burrito...
How random
7. Kristen had the following to say on Oct 20 at 10:08 PM:
I was going to say that the sex trade is very healthy, for lack of a better term, in those parts of the world. You hear stories all the time from that part of the world trading/selling girls, boys, men and women into the trade, willingly and unwillingly.
You can think about it this way. In the US, if you want a pizza, but don't know where to find one in your town, what do you do? You Google it. Just apply that to the concept above.
People may want it, but not know where to find it, so they search for it on the internet. Especially since it is not culturally acceptable to just outright ask someone or blatently advertise for it in public with the strict religious/social cultures.
Another point: You don't have to Google it here, you can just drive down the street and take the number off the nearest billboard for a strip club.
8. Kathleen had the following to say on Oct 21 at 2:44 AM:
I must say I burst out laughing at the results for "hangover". NOT surprising. But yeah, "burrito" is a random thing to google.
9. Guilherme Sanches had the following to say on Oct 21 at 12:41 PM:
"Comments are moderated, ... please do your best to double-check your spelling, use correct capitalization, and use proper grammar". Sure, I will do my best with my brazilian English. =P
I found the results of this statistics very interesting, but not really surprising. It's been 4 months that I read this post in a brazilian blog which shows the relation between the searches for the keywords "sex" and "death". Take a look there if you can: http://altovolta.apostos.com/archives/2007/06/eros_e_tanatos.html
The first image shows that "The more people read about death (red), the more they search for sex (blue)". Then there's a list of countries ranked by the search for sex, which shows that out of the "Top 10", 7 are of muslin majority. And then there's the ranking based on the searches for death, which shows that "the more a culture exposes sex, the more those people will be afraid of death".
Conclusions of the authors:
- the more repression, the more curiosity
- the more freedom people have for the pursue of pleasure, the more they will be afraid of not being able to enjoy life
10. laura had the following to say on Oct 21 at 9:20 PM:
I think that muslim cultures are actually more sex obsessed than western cultures, but not just because they make sexual stuff unavailable (actually the reverse may be true). I read a book called "Unveiled" by Cherry Mosteshar, who was raised/educated in the UK but went to live in Iran where her family was from.
A few things really stuck out to me when I was done. In the hardcore muslim culture she described, very small things such as smiling, shaking hands, or making eye contact were extremely sexual. Also, women have complete responsibility for sexual resraint because men's sexual desires were perceived as something absolutely necessary to satisfy and impossible to resist anyway. I think this is why there are practices that might make prostitution/sexual stuff more common there than here.
The idea that men should not need to, and cannot, control their sexual urges naturally grows into the belief that women must be completely covered to prevent provoking men's interest, and also (ironically) necessitates that fulfilling these interests is one of women's top priorities - which leads to them becoming sex objects. Plus, interactions and dress are constantly, minutely scrutinized for hints of immoral sexuality. And of course, if you're looking for it, you're going to find it...
So..... I think that the combination of the limitless possibilities for sexuality to pop up in interactions, the lack of any moral responsibility in men, and the careful search for inappropriate appearance/behavior actually create a culture even more sexually obsessed than the US/European cultures.
11. Erin had the following to say on Oct 22 at 4:52 AM:
"But I'm a little confused about the top searches for "sex." I thought the western countries were supposed to be most sex obsessed."
i think western societys are more sexually open. sex obsession is already sky-high. it is only topped by countries such as egypt, turkey and india possibly because their cultures suppress the notion of sexual openness, e.g., arranged marriages in the modern day, conduct of attire for women, and their sex craze has been diverted to a more private, personal space, e.g., the realms of the internet.
and when we think about it, of course the whole human race is sex obsessed. it is all part of being made who we are (sexual beings) and then twisted in the face of sin, thus manifested in pornography, homosexuality, etc. just my two cents. :)
12. Becks had the following to say on Oct 22 at 3:55 PM:
I'm still not over my native Germany's "third" for Viagra!!
And am asking myself however we/they got there. My theory has two main theses:
-there are many elderly marriages who are still happily 'at it' and don't want to miss out. (Actually, Germany has a very high share of older people; Italy too I think.)
-ED (erectile dysfunction, a word I am now culpable of having googled) is mainly due to factors that restrain blood flow, i.e. arteriosclerosis, diabetes, too much alcohol, fat food....here we go. Some of the Viagra googlers are probably eating full fat butter, a sausage a day, and don't exercise enough...
13. Netanya had the following to say on Oct 22 at 8:11 PM:
That was an interesting comment, Laura, about "Unveiled." We may perceive muslim countries as puritanical, but it seems like in the US, there is a larger social burden on men to respect and protect women. (Could sexual harassment/equal opportunity even exist in those places where rape victims are given capital punishment for admitting they were raped?) So even though we are politically "freer" in the West, this social norm seems to counterract the acceptance of porn and sex-obsession.
14. Adam Sloope had the following to say on Oct 23 at 8:27 AM:
Random thought...The three countries listed are very religious countries...Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism would seem to be the largest religions in those regions. Because these religions are so works based it makes sense that the secret sinful desires of the men or women there would be magnified by the internet. The internet has become a fantasy world for many people around the world that must hide them true selves or are ashamed to admit to sin. The saddest part is that they don't see themselves as being forgiven, because they do not have Christ, or they don't see themselves being trapped by sin.
15. Amanda L had the following to say on Dec 19 at 8:16 AM:
I'm not surprised.
I have heard of men from repressed countries coming here and assuming that because of the way western women dress, they are all pretty much prostitutes.
They nurture their obsessions online or with western women...or by raping eastern women.
Not that we westerners are any better.
We're just allowed to get away with more, eh?
There's so much sex on tv and movies and in magazines, that it starts not shocking us anymore.
16. Jessica had the following to say on Dec 19 at 1:33 PM:
"I have heard of men from repressed countries coming here and assuming that because of the way western women dress, they are all pretty much prostitutes."
They don't just come here and then start thinking it....they think it in their native lands. The main portrayal of Western women they see are: Baywatch and Desperate Housewives. And then there's the internet.