Who is searching for sex?
Written by Haitham Sabbah on 12. May 2006, 2351hrs // Part of Haitham Sabbah's adventure in Arab, Egypt, Internet 'n Computers, Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Too Much Free Time // Other posts by Haitham Sabbah
Here is another toy from Google. It is still sitting at Googles Labs, and they call it Google Trends. Fark recently featured the discovery under “obvious” tag, so I went to check it out, and guess what, I came out… blushing 
Here is why. Go here and search for the word “sex” (don’t worry, it won’t bite), who do you see ranking #1? That’s right; Cairo.
Of course on the top right of the result page(not shown here), you can select from the drop down menu a year, the results will change, but if you keep it “All Years”, walah… Cairo is #1 city.
Now, digging a little more, click on the regions tab, what comes out? Egypt #2 and Saudi Arabia in #7. What a feeling (sh**).
Last but not least, click the language tab, and here comes the bad good news; Arabic #1. Yahhhhhhh… We won!!!! Arabic number ONE! Am I proud or what 
What the hell. What do they search in Arabic language?
Honestly, I feel shy when I see this is what our two biggest Arab countries youth and Internet users are “searching” for. But then, do I blame them? I guess not!!! Weird, I know…
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May 13th, 2006 at 12:48 am
Is this for real?
This is really sad and is a very strong indication of what is going on inside the heads of these users … something must be done but then again, what can be done?
It is rather a strange situation and one is left speechless and perplexed by these facts … really sad!
May 13th, 2006 at 5:30 am
Man, what a wonderful results, I’m so sure speechless, I can say those googlers are being over creative, it’s like inventing the mind reader machine while one still not ready to shut up his inner thoughts!
Something is seriously sick. These are the results of our societies. BRAVO our societies, our “HEALTHY conservative societies” where we always proud of our chastity and accusing the western world of being corrupted and damaged by sexual immorality, thank god we live in the healthy societies where we locked 15 little girls to be burn till death in their on-fire school in Saudi, for the sake of saving our streets chastity. And the result Saudi Arabia society came in the 7th place world wide sex seekers. Bravo Saudi.
We the Arab world proudly occupying the first place internet’s sex searchers, com’on we are the world leaders, for the first time we the leaders in something, shouldn’t we be proud of ourselves, I say we should spread the results all over the world, let the world know the truth about our proudly conservative societies. Are we breaking the laws of contradictions or what!!
The results show that 6 out of the first 8 countries searching SEX, are Islamic countries. Impressive.
On searching on another world ‘ISLAM’ , Saudi Arabia come in the 9th place, while it’s in the 7th place searching for ‘sex’. It seems that our most religious Saudi population is interested in sex more than islam! Hmm ….
And yet the problem is not that they don’t know the solution, the problem is that they can’t see the problem.
May 13th, 2006 at 6:20 am
Haitham: Of course you know that Google is part of a Zionist-Neocon conspiricy to embarass and defame the pious and decent Arabs and Muslims. Maybe we should start a “boycot Google” campaign.
May 13th, 2006 at 6:40 am
hmm, I would’ve thought the more ultra-conservative would be on top.
According to some stats, only 11.7 million out of a total of 316 million Arabs use the Internet, which is of course very low. So is it safe to assume that this small number of people is responsible for generating this large trend on the Internet? I guess that means the majority of that 11.7 is “perverted” (according to conservatives because I don’t think liberals care). But given the low number this is too small a sample to judge the 316 million.
so what is the solution? hmm. perhaps if there were no sexual taboos in the region, where we had a society where people could simply hook up with other people and have random sex without the fear of social retribution, then people would be less inclined to look for sex online.
the above was all meant to be satarical in case anyone missed it.
May 13th, 2006 at 8:17 am
Go there and try “porn” and you’ll find very different results.
It’s just because most Arabic-speaking people do not use the word “porn” and are more familiar with the general one “sex”.
Try many synonyms; it will give you a better look at what’s really happening.
May 13th, 2006 at 8:50 am
See you cannot blame the youths or the internet users, its a feeling which every individual somewhere or the other might be having in his/her heart. So its not a matter of shame anyways to Arab countries. So just chill! Atleast you are somewhere on the top.
May 13th, 2006 at 9:31 am
I have seen it too. (Once I have found a huge bug in one of our software tools because I have searched for “sex”. I do it for any new search system I see)
Anyway, I think it really is because “sex” is a simple term in English. People with more knowledge of what’s available in the internet/sex world, would search for more specific terms. (and I don’t want to go there…)
Try this search [free, sex] and see more interesting rerults.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=free+%2C+sex&ctab=1&geo=all&date=all
Best,
Hanan Cohen
***Love and Peace***
May 13th, 2006 at 12:51 pm
I think it’s because in Arab countries it’s hard to find sex, and because sex is considered such a taboo for Arab Women (note that I used Arab women, cause men in the Arab world are free to do whatever).
In other countries sex is pretty much easy to find, and sex has a higher meaning. In Arabia it’s just ejaculating or reproduction. Elsewhere (when discreet) it usually resembles a share of emotions and mutual care.
May 13th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
Actually this is just plain sick (check out the Arabic language):
http://www.google.com/trends?q=young+girls&ctab=1&geo=all&date=all
My advice for married people: never take your girls to Australia or Pakistan!
May 13th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
Sorry Pheras, but I don’t agree with you. It is not about how hard or easy one can find ’sex’, but how hard or easy one can ‘talk’ about ’sex’.
From my life experience (not very old, but only 37 years), our culture is so hard and so closed, people fear, or feel shy, or stopped to talk about ’sex’ as well so many other taboos as we call them.
The problem is that taboos get to be taboos because we think that they are. I mean, if we don’t talk about a thing, like LGBT (good example at Khalida’s blog), people’s mind automatically switch the ‘forbidden’ subject to a ‘taboo’.
Sex, is very easy to find in Saudi, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, everywhere, just like any other country in the world. The only difference is that people think that because it is wrong, and because we were born and raised not to talk about such taboo’s, we think they don’t exist and some people start searching for such things online.
Having said that, lets also keep in mind that the ‘language’ used to search in this context is Arabic. Therefore, I guess that those who used Arabic don’t know what actually ‘porn’ means, and who in the world won’t use ’sex’ as first word to search for if his quest is for ’sex’?
May 13th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
Yes why we are exaggerating the matter! Sure we are not seeing a problem, these are just some healthy signs for our conservative societies. maybe it’s just Saudi Arabia is not conservative enough which allowed the youth to be extremely polluted by sex thoughts, maybe Saudi Arabia should put more restraints to avoid such outer pollution. And then all will live happily ever after.
Hanan, you mean ‘free sex’ combined not free vs. sex “free, sex” , try the search again and see the results, notice the Arabic Language.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=free+sex&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
May 13th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Haitham, sex can be found, but sex is not a very easy to find in Saudi, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, just like any other country in the world. Sex is not easy to find Saudi as it’s in Bahrain, or Egypt, every country got its constraints. It just a fact that doesn’t even need a proof. Just go down the street and see how much it will take you to end up the night with a girl in each country. But yes the problem also is that we are contradicting our natures because of our taboos, and fall in confusion between what we show and hide, this confusion partially limiting our brain cells from thinking about other constructive matters in our youth. And the result is our current level of development.
May 13th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
All right, Husams. I’ll not argue about Saudi. I hope we could say the same about Egypt, but I guess that’s not the issue. The issue is as we described. It is the inherited “culture of forbidden”.
Forbidden, not to practice, but even to ask and talk about!
May 13th, 2006 at 6:10 pm
Interesting. Try the word “sexe” in french, and you will find Algeria and Morocco as #1 and #2 http://www.google.com/trends?q=sexe&ctab=1&geo=all&date=all
May 13th, 2006 at 6:11 pm
Interesting. Try the word “sexe” in french, and you will find Algeria and Morocco as #1 and #2
May 13th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
http://www.google.com/trends?q=sexe&ctab=1&geo=all&date=all
May 13th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
Khalidah
something must be done ..?
Ya salam
sex is the somthing should be done .. that is it !!
its so easy to live in west and say ohh !! what a sham I fill shy , something must be done
we live in repress socities , no freedom to any one to do any thing even eating .
you should look at the whole picture , be more faire , all of you
May 13th, 2006 at 11:56 pm
Look at the history of the US during prohibition. People were killed so booze could be bought illegally.
Censorship in the Scandanavian countries was cut back and most sex-related crimes dropped considerably.
The more it is denied, the more people want it, especially our youths!
May 14th, 2006 at 8:27 am
[...] En effectuant une recherche du terme “sex” sur le nouveau Google Trends, Sabbah a fait une amusante d?uverte : L’?ypte et l’Arabie Saoudite font partie des 10 r?ons [...]
May 14th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
NO comment,, you just gave me a laugh in a hard day
May 15th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
[...] UAE The Daily Tension for Fri. 12 May Marriages Unlimited Israel: Hotbed of Arab diversity Who is searching for sex? “Palestinian” Arab Muslims fight “freedom” in… Jor [...]
May 16th, 2006 at 12:24 am
Try this: Naked women
http://www.google.com/trends?q=naked+women&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
No Arab world.
The Indians lead the pack.
See Haitham, Arabs google sex the most.Big deal.At least they have low populations with STI and HIV.
Be proud of your race for one sec, will you?
May 16th, 2006 at 12:31 am
I tried the keyword : Naked men.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=naked++men&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
3 Australia cities win the top places for googling :Naked men. way to go Aussies!!
According to your finding and your premise Haitham,Aussie women must be a) sexually liberals or b) sex is a taboo subject there. Or might we assume Aussie are the gay-est people in the world becoz of that trend?
May 16th, 2006 at 12:37 am
try : Hot Chicks
http://www.google.com/trends?q=Hot+chicks&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
again it’s Aussie at the top!!
try : hot bitches
http://www.google.com/trends?q=hot+bitches&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
Yo, Americans hold ALL TOP 10 POSITIONS!!yo, momma rocks my sock!!
try: Hot dudes
http://www.google.com/trends?q=hot+dudes&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
conclusion: Westerners know how dehumanize women and treat them as piece of meat.
May 16th, 2006 at 1:15 am
Ok, Jared is upset and thinks that I’m ‘westernized’
I’m proud Arab my friend, everyone who knows me, knows that.
Anyway, let’s not personalize this. But here is a tip. Try searching for something else other than sex, say, technology, space, art, culture or even democracy, and so on. Please come back if you find any Arab city in the top ten list!
How is that?
Let’s not bury our heads in the sand and claim that we are perfect.
May 16th, 2006 at 7:13 am
[...] By TigerHawk at 5/15/2006 11:21:00 AM By one measure, the most socially conservative people in the world. Permalink [...]
May 17th, 2006 at 9:43 am
[...] 4/334/1600/sex_egypt_saudi_google.jpg”>Thanks to “Martin” for pointing this out to me. Sabbah’s Blog has an interesting analysis, showing who is using Google to sear [...]
May 19th, 2006 at 3:31 pm
We’re not perfect.
But is Google perfect ?
I mean come on the Cairo and Saudi Arabic are believable but like Haitham said .. Why would someone looking for sex search for it using the arabic term? I don’t really buy the language thing. And Vietnamese comes second… The “vietcongs” you mean?
Why do I sense something fishy?
May 23rd, 2006 at 6:14 am
This search engine is just that.
I think if you searched everything related to sex you will find that our youths are looking for answers. (All over the world.)
Usually because their parents aren’t telling them anything.
It is a doubled edged sword. You tell them nothing and they will look to find the answers. You tell them everything and they will look to confirm your answers.
We have to accept the new age of information. Religion will not stem this tide.
Honesty and open discussion will help.
I know because I am a father of 2 daughters.
Sex happens. It has happened before and it will happen again.
Hide it or deny it at your peril.
It is a natural thing that has happened for centuries.
Religions have tried to control it for centuries.
Now with the internet it is out in the open and religions have to accept it. Whether they like it or not.
We all have to adapt to the new world.
The internet has changed our world and we have to change with it.
May 23rd, 2006 at 4:12 pm
I thought the 6.5 billion people on this planet were immaculately conceived.
May 23rd, 2006 at 6:53 pm
Actually, the stork brought them and laid them in the cabbage patch!
May 23rd, 2006 at 10:58 pm
I hope to live to see the day when Arab women throw off their shackles…I mean…abayas and celebrate their beautiful bodies in the open. Let’s see those powerful hips, like Shakira.
May 24th, 2006 at 1:19 am
You’ll just have to settle for Haifa’s wa-wa. Throw off your own shackles. A good percentage of women wear the abayah by their own free will. You should respect that, even if you don’t agree with it.
May 25th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Shakira is Colombian! Her mother is Colombian with Spanish/Italian ancestry and her father is Colombian, but born in the USA with Lebanese (Catholic) ancestry.
Though she does have nice hips, they have abosolutely nothing to do with Arab women throwing anything!
PS: For the geographically disadvantaged, Colombia is a country in South Amercia
May 26th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Geographically disadvantaged? Who? South Amercians? Their great disadvantage being that Amercia is found on no map. The land has been colonised and the name changed to South America.
In 2006 the indigenous population of 371 million was generously forced onto a one meter square of land in the Andes called Alpaca, in order to make space to settle the ancestors of North Amercians dislaced in the war of 1812. A sad, and little known, story for the South Amercians (especially Colombians) that has been cleansed from the annals of history.
May 26th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
Raymond,
You seem to have a short fuse today
‘Geographically disadvantaged’ is following the political correctness of the USA. It means people who have no clue about geography! It was not a reference to Colombia.
Besides, the reson why ‘the Americas’ is split into North America and South America has nothing to do with colonization, but that ‘the Americas’ is geographically covering two continents. I think North America and South America are better names than for example ‘Americas A’ and ‘Americas B’!
The English name for Danmark is Denmark, but that the first A is changed to an E has nothing to do with colonization (actually Denmark colonized England for a while). Danmark was not colonized by the Romans either, but they called it Dania (which is still the Hungarian name for Danmark).
Kalaallit Nunaat was colonized by Danmark, but today Grønland is self-governed, has its own flag, parliament, and national anthem, but Greenland is still part of Denmark and is on the national budget of Danmark (half of the Grønland government revenues come from Denmark as budget allocations). In Kalaallit Nunaat, the world’s largest island (not a continent), the Kalaallit speak Kalaallisut as their first language and Dansk as their second language. Both Greenlandic and Danish are official languages of Grønland.
By the way, what was your point?
May 26th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
Thomas,
I was making a joke, all the way through, playing off your misspelling of America as “Amercia”. Just for laughs… no temper… no ill will.
May 26th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
FYI - If my fuse seems short, it is because the situation in Palestine is growing more devastating every day. Family and friends are there, suffering through.
May 26th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Raymond,
My thoughts and prayers for you and your family.
May 26th, 2006 at 10:47 pm
Thank you, Robin. That means a lot.
May 27th, 2006 at 4:21 am
Raymond,
No offense taken
I understand how you feel. Though my only stake in the Israel/Palestine conflict is that I want to see justice, I am angry about being powerless to change the situation and about that those who are supposed to represent me do not represent me at all!
May 27th, 2006 at 7:12 am
Talking about Danmark and America.
Do you know how many words in the English language are based on the Danish language.
More than you think.
Ever since the Vikings invaded and settled in England their language changed.
That was a thousand years ago. Now the world is smaller and the Israelis can’t do the same.
May 31st, 2006 at 8:21 am
Thomas,
Check your internet.
A lot of words in the English language are based on Dansk words.
The spelling was changed to keep the serfs uninformed.
Early Danes believed in keeping everyone informed and up to date on everything would help the economy.
The people in power thought otherwise.
Hence the Danes are smarter and the English are trying to keep up.
May 31st, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Kimmi,
LOL!
Christians may have succeded in killing our religion, but they (English speaking ones) still honor our Gods ‘on a daily basis’
Here is the week of Norse Gods:
Monday - day of Mona (Anglo-Saxon) a.k.a. Máni (Norse), God of the Moon (mandag in Danish).
Tuesday - day of Tiw (A-S) a.k.a. Tyr (N), God of combat and heroic glory (tirsdag).
Wednesday - day of Woden (A-S) a.k.a. Odin (N), main God - the God of wisdom and death (onsdag).
Thursday - day of Thur/thunder (A-S) a.k.a. Tor (N), God of thunder (torsdag). Tor is also the protector of Asgaard (the realm of the Gods - Heaven) and Midgaard (the realm of us mortals - Middle Earth).
Friday - day of Fria (A-S) a.k.a. Freya (N), main Godess - the Godess of love, fertility, and beauty (fredag)
Saturday is the only week day that originates from Latin. In Norse it is the day of the half-God Loke, “the contriver of all fraud” (lørdag).
Sunday - day of Sunna (A-S) a.k.a. Sol (N), the Godess of the sun (søndag)
The Norse Gods are used for week days in most languages belonging to the Germanic language group while planets are used for week days in most languages belonging to the Latin language group: Lunae (Moon), Martis (Mars), Mercurii (Mercury), Jovis (Jupiter), Veneris (Venus), Saturni (Saturn), Solis (Sun).
Coincidentally (or maybe not), the Latin/Greek and Norse Gods/days are quite similar:
Luna/Selene and Máni - Gods of the Moon.
Mars/Ares and Tyr - Gods of war
Mercurius/Hermes and Odin - no direct relationship
Jupiter/Zeus and Tor - Gods of thunder
Venus/Aphrodite and Freya - Godesses of love and beauty
Saturnus/Cronus and Loke - no direct relationship
Sol/Helios and Sol - Gods of the sun
I mention that it probably is not so coincidental, because Egyptian (’pre-Jesus’ Semite) and Greek religions share a lot of similarities; Greek and Roman religions share a lot of similarities; and Roman and Norse religions share a lot of similarities.
In the ‘good old days’ culture and religion was not entrenched as today and gave our ancestors a rich exchange of ideas and concepts up and down the chain (Middle EastNear EastSouthern EuropeNorthern Europe). But then came the three monolithic religions which ended the era where religion was dynamically changed to fit changing societies and turned the world into a battleground for religion monopoly in pursuit of fitting dynamic and diverse societies into one static religion dominated culture.
Maybe the ‘modern world’ is not so modern after all. It is my hope that people will soon realize that trying to force everybody into one mono-culture has already caused a lot of ‘culture wars’ and ‘wars of ideologies’ in the past couple of centuries. Until we return to accepting diversity and start exchanging ideas and concepts based on that we can and should all learn from each other then it can only get worse - much worse!
May 31st, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Fear is, and always has been, a great motivator and a great means of control.
Interesting read: “Flesh Machine” by Critical Art Ensemble. Yes, it’s one of those subversive organisations that seeks to fill your head with new perspectives and ideas. Ideas?!!! Nooooo!!! Work of the devil himself. Out, out, damn spot!
Chapter One: Posthuman Development in the Age of Pancapitalism
http://www.critical-art.net/books/flesh/index.html
June 8th, 2006 at 7:29 am
[...] ?? ?????? ???????? ???? ????? ???? ????Mobi,That’s why!!! (Link)Shopaholic Q8eya,?????? ??? ???? ?????. [...]
June 24th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
another study conducted by vice-manager of educational affairs at the Saudi ministry of education, concluded that CHAT ROOMS and FORBIDDEN SITES on the Internet were the main cause for the increase in the rate of divorce in the kingdom (no wonderGoogle trend shows Saudi in the top list of search for sex). Yet another report by the ministry of planning and national economy claimed that 65 per cent of marriages arranged by matchmakers failed, which is another problem, as we all know that it is nearly impossible for males females to even see each other
August 31st, 2006 at 3:36 am
Hanan Cohen,
I find ur point of view is very convincing. The shame which arabs should feel is not about being number one searching for sex,, but its because most arabs donot know terms like Pornography, erotic or even porn or porno or even naked and nude etc,, i am kidding, but if u try any of these terms u wouldnot find any arab countr on the list. And something else: many countries got search engines in the own language like french, german, italian etc, and they could search for the terms in their own languages too. anyway we shouldnot trust the statistics without seeing them in their context. and we should also ask,, what other ways of sexual events do arab and muslim youth have in comparison to other nations, arab youth in majority got only to see sex as long they r not married!
November 9th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
[...] a year go, it appears that Cairo was the #1 city that searched for “sex” on Google. Sabbah provides a few graphs detailing who’s searching for sex on the internet. Here is who searched [...]
December 4th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
[...] To add more spices, another study conducted by vice-manager of educational affairs at the Saudi ministry of education, concluded that CHAT ROOMS and FORBIDDEN SITES on the Internet were the main cause for the increase in the rate of divorce in the kingdom (no wonder Google trend shows Saudi in the top list of search for sex). [...]
January 1st, 2008 at 11:30 pm
[...] 5. Who is searching for sex? [...]
February 12th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Sex if with too many and not meaningful with that one special woman who is tailor fitted for you will rot the meaningfulness of when you find that special person. It won’t be so special when you find that special one, because you’ve been too spread out/ too fragmented with others that it will lose it’s meaning.