Sexual Information Seeking on Web Search Engines

Abstract

Sexual information seeking is an important element within human information behavior. Seeking sexually related information on the Internet takes many forms and channels, including chat rooms discussions, accessing Websites or searching Web search engines for sexual materials. The study of sexual Web queries provides insight into sexually-related information-seeking behavior, of value to Web users and providers alike. We qualitatively analyzed queries from logs of 1,025,910 Alta Vista and AlltheWeb.com Web user queries from 2001. We compared the differences in sexually-related Web searching between Alta Vista and AlltheWeb.com users. Differences were found in session duration, query outcomes, and search term choices. Implications of the findings for sexual information seeking are discussed.

Embodiment and desire in browsing online pornography

“…Only two major publications attempt to examine the phenomenon from the perspective of information seeking: Spink, Koricich, Jansen & Cole and Spink, Ozmutlu & Lorence [11]. Perhaps pornography has been considered too crude to invite much investigation.…”

“…In a more telling example, Spink, Koricich, Jansen & Cole [12] view our engagements with and activity around online pornography as a serendipitous discovery of "information the user finds while seeking satisfaction of other physiological, affective, and cognitive needs." The authors acknowledge the embodied aspects of pornography (physiological, affective, and cognitive), but only to the extent that these embodied aspects lead to a discovery of "data/ information that will facilitate [users'] adaption and survival" [13].…”

“…In doing so, they imply that our somatic experiences are not valuable in themselves but, curiously, only when they serve a higher utilitarian and productive purpose. Couching the "higher" purpose of pornography through drastically scientific terminology ("mating and propagation of the species," "adaption and survival," [17], Spink, Koricich, Jansen, and Cole rhetorically arrogate the authority of evolutionary science in order to lend a sense of objectivity and detachment to a potentially prurient discussion. Furthermore, they evacuate sexual reproduction of its cultural context and exclude the sexual desires of non-reproductive and queer bodies.…”

Therapists’ Assessment and Treatment of Internet Infidelity Cases

“…These purposes include (but are not limited to) viewing pornography, placing personal ads, engaging in cybersex, educating oneself about sex, and developing sexual interpersonal relationships. Users are inundated with sexually explicit information on the web in the form of spam within email accounts, advertisements, and a multitude of search engines (Spink, Koricich, Jansen, & Cole, 2004).…”

Deep tags: toward a quantitative analysis of online pornography

“…Amanda Spink et al (2004) analyzed the logs of two former web search engines for the year 2001 and identified the frequency of sexual queries within the whole corpus of web search, along with the most frequent terms associated with them. The proportion of specific queries for illegal pornography, such as child pornography in peer-to-peer networks, has also been studied (Latapy, Magnien, and Fournier 2013).…”