coronavirus-themed porn is a thing

covid-19 has affected virtually every aspect of our lives, so why should the way we watch porn be an exception? not only are we watching more of it, but it’s all about hazmat suits, masks and gloves.in an article posted on psychology today, dr. martin j. lehmiller writes that the virus has given porn consumption rates a boost. he refers to pornhub — a free video sharing and pornography site — which reported a steady increase in march since lockdowns around the world began. in fact, on just one day, visitor traffic was up by 11.6 percent.obviously, we are watching more porn because we have more time. and let’s face it — we’re a little bored. but as he points out, maybe the reason we are glued to the nudie pictures on our screens is that we are using porn as way of managing fear and worry during these crazy times.lehmiller, an american social psychologist and author, explains that in his book, the psychology of human sexuality, he writes about the terror management theory: “when we are reminded of our own mortality, we subconsciously alter our attitudes and behaviours to help us cope with the ‘terrifying’ prospect of our eventual death.”studies have found that when we’re faced with the possibility of our very own mortality, we activate sexual desire and behaviour to cope, he writes. and given that the pandemic has brought our feelings about mortality to the forefront, it makes sense that more of us might turn to porn for a break.perhaps one of the most interesting observations about the spike in porn watching is that it’s not your regular garden variety porn that people are lusting after. in fact, lehmiller notes that coronavirus themed porn was hot in march — with more than 9 million coronavirus searches in that month on pornhub. there are also now more than 1,000 videos that pop up on the site when you search for “coronavirus,” he writes.and yup, coronavirus porn is exactly what you think it is: people having sex while wearing hazmat suits, surgical gloves and masks.â while that might sound a little weird — and creepy — lehmiller points out that humans have the ability to fetishize virtually everything, pointing out that we also have a constant need for sexual novelty. in fact, around holidays “porn searches tend to become festive as people look for porn with a holiday flair.”he calls the predilection for covid porn an “eroticization of fear,” citing studies showing that strong emotions can be mistaken for sexual attraction. apparently, when people do things that “produce high-arousal states — like riding a roller coaster — and then encounter an attractive stranger, attraction to that person increases.”i suppose the message here is that if the emotional fallout of covid-19 has got you feeling a bit randy, you aren’t alone. personally, i will never look at a hazmat suit in the same way again.don’t miss the latest on covid-19, reopening and life. subscribe to healthing’s daily newsletter coming out of covid.