Pornhub Unveils Its 2023 Sex and Pleasure Trends

Leading porn site, Pornhub unveils its Year in Review, detailing the top NSFW trends.

As former porn performer Sage the Flame shared in Episode 5 of Servin' Sex, porn trends often parallel social trends and interests. Ironically, in September 2023, therapy became the biggest green flag not only in porn -- but amongst single and dating app users -- signaling all may not be well with the world. More specifically, "therapy" and "sexual healing" stole the spotlight with a 344% increase in 2023.

Sex expert Dr. Laurie Betito says interest in therapy during pleasure sessions may be related to mental well-being, as well. "More and more people, thankfully, are seeking help for mental health and sexual issues," she said. "However, at the same time, fantasies involving a patient/therapist relationship turned sexual is quite common, probably because it is taboo and involves a power differential. In real life, clients can experience feelings for a therapist (transference) because of the nature of the relationship (the client shares very intimate details of their life and feels safe), and this can turn into fantasies of a sexual nature. The forbidden nature of the relationship also may fuel this fantasy."

AI and sex tech also continue their reign with sex machines growing in popularity. More specifically, searches for terms like "3D robot" and "sex robot" grew by 304%. Remember the NPC -- aka Non-Playable Character -- hype on TikTok? Well, that trend definitely led people to Pornhub's newest trends: "NPC sex," "game NPC," and "hentai NPC." Dr. Betito confirms: "Search trends over the years always coincide with what’s trending in technology. Right now, we are seeing a lot about the development of 'sex robots,' so who wouldn’t be curious about that?"

Also aligning with current TV trends, Pornhub coined the term "The Golden Age" referring to its new second most popular category: mature content. This year, ABC's hit series The Bachelor raised the stakes with The Golden Bachelor which set out to find a match for 71 year old, Gerry Turner which normalized mature love and pleasure. This is also suspected to be a 2024 trend in sexual wellness, according to Lovehoney.

Gen Z, on the other hand, kept it creative with their top categories ringing in as cosplay, hentai and interactive porn. Abella Danger stands as Pornhub's most searched pornstar of the year and size queens made their presence known, holding second place in search trends.

For more sex-positive content, explore Pornhub's capsule collection created by the iconic Hajime Soroyama.

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