I recently had to weigh in on something I know almost nothing about — baseball. Except that it was baseball in conjunction with masturbation practices and porn consumption, so I was fine!

Allee Manning of Vocativ recently contacted me with a quick and dirty query:

Currently working on a quick little piece about how [a piracy-based tube site’s] viewership surged after the World Series Game 7. Biggest increases were observed in Ohio, though there were notable spikes throughout the rest of the country (including Illinois) as well…

Why people masturbate when they do — as far as factors like life events and scheduling? I can’t seem to find any data on why people masturbate at specific times of day, or what kind of psychological affect minor life events and emotions associated with them might cause someone to crave pornography and/or masturbation, even though s/he doesn’t typically do so at that time of day/week.

To which I responded:

It’s a commonly understood biological fact that people masturbate to relieve various forms of stress. And though people’s passions often bring pleasure, they can also be stress inducing.

I’m far from a baseball aficionado, but from what I understand of World Series Game 7, it was a highly stressful situation for passionate fans everywhere. And given the final score of Cleveland 7 and Chicago 8, whereas the winning fans had the joy of success to relieve their stress, it could be that the equally amped Cleveland fans had to find an outlet for their pent up passions via other means.

So though the results Game 7 weren’t “on schedule” for many folks, the high-stakes, pleasure stress of the whole situation seems on par with many biological factors – and the various traffic/search bumps speak to that as well.

If nothing else, I make up for my lack of baseball knowledge with endless understanding of… other things! Go Bears! (just kidding, I know it was Cubs haha)

Read Allee’s piece about the “real nailbiter” right here — “After The World Series, America Watched Porn” (November 4, 2016)

(pictured: image via Vocativ)

* * *

Got a sociology question? Need some social justice informed life advice? Contact Dr. Chauntelle right here.

Get Exposure: A Sociologist Explores Sex, Society, and Adult Entertainment on Amazon and CT.com.