#CultureDeViol

On Bastille Day, we asked the xHamster data team to pull the most searched French terms on xHamster. The ninth most popular term was "viol" — the French term for ****. We wondered should we publish such data? Wouldn't it be more prudent to just remove that term from the list? In the end, we decided it was not in anyone’s interest to hide what people were searching for. We decided to publish it, but to remove the term from the available searches, as we did for "****" in English several years ago.

We were not surprised by the ensuing discussion — or outrage. It must be rather shocking for the French to see the term 'viol' appear in their top ten most popular searches. But the discussion that needs to be had is why this term is so popular in France and the rest of the French speaking world. And that is a discussion for the French to have among themselves.

In the meantime, we're banning the term "viol" from our searches. We should note that the videos it returned were consensual BDSM encounters and fantasies. However, they don't necessarily have context, and in a world where sex education is lacking, where conversations about consent are absent, when actual crimes go to often unpunished, we're no longer willing to allow such terms to be used on our site.

Users who search for 'viol' will instead now be presented with the message below, and offered the chance to speak with a ther@pist.


In the coming weeks, we will be looking at similar search terms in other countries and other languages — German, Japanese, Spanish and so on. Our goal is not to censor content, or dictate fantasies, but we do feel a responsibility to contribute positively to the worldwide discussion of sex and consent. #balancetonporc #culturedeviol

Alex Hawkins
Vice President, xHamster
alex.hawkins@xhamster.com